In the Line of Duty
by KateBB7
Summary: Jamko in trouble, what can Danny do to get them home safely? Independent. Now completed.
1. Chapter 1

_(A/N: Bare in mind, English is not my first language - flaws to be expected. Read and enjoy. Ideas and reviews are welcome.)_

"12-David, show us responding" Jamie said in his radio. Eddie flicked on the lights and sirens as he sped down the dark and almost empty streets in the hot night air. He felt Eddie glancing at him. "What?" he said, without looking at her, a little smile tugged in the corner of his lips.

"You jinxed us," she sighed dramatically. "Every time and then again, imagine all the paperwork we have to do now!" Eddie shook her head. "Working with you is hopeless," she continued. "It's not like I don't want to work, but writing reports on night shifts are so overrated," she said, looking ahead as they approached the scene. The call was about a domestic disturbance, clearly audible from the street, they realized when they got out and hurried up the staircase in the hall. The door was already open, Jamie and Eddie looked at each other, drew their firearms and walked into the suddenly silenced screaming and crying.

"Police!" Jamie shouted when he caught the sight of a big man, twice the size of Jamie, standing above a woman, smaller than Eddie.

"Put the vase down," Eddie ordered. The man looked like he was about to throw it down on the floor, the woman. "Twitch and you'll see what a bullet looks like," she added. The man didn't look to be any kind of smart or quick, but he realized what was happening and dropped the vase on the ground next to him, easing his broad shoulders in the dim light.

"Get down on your knees and interlace your fingers behind your head," Jamie demanded with the right authority in his voice. The man obeyed and Eddie moved around the couch to the woman on the floor, still with her gun and eyes trained at the man. Jamie moved the other way around the couch so he was behind the man to put handcuffs on. He had to holster his gun in order to cuff the guy, because he needed both his hands. The man was huge, even when he was on his knees, Jamie thought, when he locked the first ratchet around the man's right wrist. And then all hell broke loose and Jamie was to slow to realize it. In the first second, the guy seized Jamie's wrist.

"Whoa!" Eddie uttered surprised. In the next second Jamie was being tossed over the man's shoulder, sailing through the air and colliding with a floor lamp and the cupboard, head on, in the third second. Eddie had to shield herself from the lamp when it bounced once on the floor and swung towards her and the woman. It caught her on her arms and hit the ground a second after Jamie and spun to a halt. After that, she caught a brief glimpse of the man running out through the front door. For a second she would go after him, but she turned to see Jamie pushing himself up from the ground. The woman was on her side and first then, Eddie saw the small puddle of blood beneath her. Instantly she reached for a pulse. "It's weak," she announced and turned the woman on to the back. She had a small wound in her abdomen, which she put pressure on.

"12-David, we need a bus at this location for a female, thirties' with a knife wound to the lower abdomen, and additional back-ups, be advised, suspect is fleeing the scene, male, white, thirties, 6' 4", 250 pounds, dark brown hair, black jeans, dark blue shirt," he reported in the radio on his shoulder while kneeling next to Eddie.

"You all right, Reagan?" Eddie asked when she saw the side of his head, smeared in blood. He nodded a bit reserved.

"I'm just a bit battered. From flying. And hitting a cabinet," he rolled his shoulders and saw the look Eddie gave him. He touched a hand to his head and wrinkled his nose when he felt the warm fluid on his fingers. "Oh," he said.

" _Oh?_ " Eddie replied sarcastic. " _Oh?_ " she repeated to herself as sirens grew louder. Shortly after, two EMT's walked in and took over from Eddie. One of the EMT's pressed a cloth into Jamie's hand and he put it to his head, realizing it hurt a bit. They collected the knife from under the couch just as two fellow officers walked in.

"Hey Janko, why don't you take Reagan to visit the ER, we can take it from here," one of them said when they saw the red material in his hand. Jamie didn't get around answering him, before Eddie almost pushed him to the door.

"Thanks, Perry!" she called over her shoulder walking down the stairs in the hallway. Jamie just followed.

"What was that about, Eddie?" he asked as he pulled up the keys from his pockets. She snatched them from his hand.

"What was what about?" she asked innocently when she sat behind the steering wheel in the car. "You are getting your head checked out," she said. "The hit might have knocked something loose, in there. I don't want you to drop on my watch" she said as she put the car in motion and headed for the nearest hospital. Jamie sighed and put the soaked cloth to his head again. "Besides, you're my partner," she said.

"It's not that bad, _mom_ " he said with a teasing smile, looking out the window. Eddie just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Aahh, I get it," she smiled. "You hurt your pride," she said just as teasing. "Well, it was an unfair fight, I'll give you that, he was like twice the size of you, barrel-chested, no-necked, arms the size of a small tree, I get it," she said and laughed shortly.

"He got away with my cuffs," Jamie muttered and looked at the cloth again. He might need a couple of stitches, he thought as Eddie parked in front of St. Vincent's. They walked in to the ER and looked around shortly. They didn't even get to sit down before Jamie's name was called and they both turned around to see Linda approaching them.

"Jamie? What happened to you?" Linda said and led them to a cubicle of white curtains.

"A domestic call, with a guy twice the size of Jamie, happened," Eddie answered when Jamie sat on the bed. He rolled his shoulders, they were a little sore.

"Young woman with a knife wound?" she asked, kind of surprised and shone a light in his eyes. First the right one, then the left and both of them again. "Any headache, nausea or dizziness?" she asked and started to clean the wound.

"Nope, I'm fine," he said.

"That's the one," Eddie said. "She came through here? How's she doing?" she asked.

"All right, I think, it was not as deep as we thought. She'll be out tomorrow. That guy hit you?" Linda asked, mildly astonished.

"He didn't hit me," he said and jerked away, when a sharp pain stung him above his left ear. "Hey!" he mumbled, slightly irritated.

"Technically, you hit a cabinet after flying through the room," Eddie said and looked at her watch. "I told you, you jinxed us, J." she let him now again and he smiled at her sarcastically.

"Very funny, Officer Janko," he muttered and wrinkled his nose as Linda rinsed the wound with some kind of strong antibacterial disinfectant.

"Have you lost consciousness at any time?" Linda asked deeply concentrated about her work.

"No, I'm telling you, I'm fine, let me just go back to work," Jamie said and sighed. He looked at Linda. "And, please, don't tell anyone anything about it. Especially not Danny," he said. Linda looked at his you-know-Danny-can-be-look and shone him in the eyes again.

"Are you absolutely sure, you are alright?" she asked him seriously. He nodded and she threaded the needle.

Halfway through their 12 hour shift they walked out of the hospital towards the car. It was midnight and supposedly more quiet than normal for a Monday night. Linda would have wanted Jamie to rest, but knew he wouldn't so she had asked Eddie to keep an eye on him. She gave her strict directions if he was getting tired, unfocused or pale. And she got to drive the car back to the precinct.

"You should let me drive more often," she said with a smile. Jamie looked at her, shortly, before looking back out on the nearly empty streets.

"Yeah… nah… I don't think so," he answered. He didn't mind her driving, but he liked it better when it was himself behind the wheel. The radio scattered.

" _12-David, please return to the 12_ _th_ _,_ " the voice said. Eddie reached for the radio.

"12-David responding 10-4, returning to 12th," she answered and looked puzzled at Jamie, he looked at her, equally puzzled. Fifteen minutes later, they walked in, Renzulli waved at them and walked into his office.

"What's this about, Sarge?" Jamie asked, when he and Eddie entered.

"You are going to the hospital," he answered and lifted a file from his desk. Eddie looked more puzzled.

"We've already been there, Sarge, he says he's fine?" Eddie said, looking confused at Jamie.

"Who?" Renzulli replied and looked at Jamie, realizing the band aid in his hair above his ear. "You all right, Reagan?" he asked when he connected the dots. Jamie nodded, like always.

"I'm fine," he said and heard himself talking Eddie of the mouth.

"Good, get changed then, and get your butts back to Vincent's. As of now, you are the protective detail of Elizabeth Kramer, the woman with the knife wound, you called in," Renzulli said and handed Jamie the file. He opened it and started reading it with Eddie glancing over his shoulder. In the upper right corner was a picture of Kramer, E. Underneath, details about her, such as dates and educations, was listed.

"You think the husband will come back for her?" Eddie asked and Renzulli handed her another file.

"Fiancée," Renzulli corrected her. "Her father, Gregory Kramer, pulled some strings to get her protected, in case he does come back," he said and Eddie opened the file in her hand. Now it was Jamie's turn to read over her shoulder.

"Gregory Kramer, the politician? The Mayor's friend?" Jamie asked without looking up. The second file contained a photo of Duncan Miller, the giant they had encountered hours before.

"His rap sheet is longer than my arm," Eddie said, turning a page. "Everything from aggravated assault, harassment, possession and distribution to a couple of DUI's." Jamie whistled impressed. That sounds about all right, he thought.

"And we are doing this in plain clothes, because..?" Jamie trailed off with a curious look to Renzulli. Normally, that kind of job was done in a uniform.

"Kramer doesn't want the publicity around his daughter," Renzulli explained and sat down behind his desk. Jamie and Eddie looked at each other, shortly.

"Later, Sarge," Jamie called over his shoulder as they walked out.

Half an hour later, they were back in the hospital in their street clothes and relieved the security guard outside the door.

"I'll find some coffee," Eddie said as Jamie sat down in a chair outside the door to Elizabeth Kramer's room. He scanned left to right and sighed. A couple of minutes later Eddie came back with two Styrofoam cups and sat down next to Jamie. He took one of the cups. Eddie was dressed in dark blue jeans and a light grey shirt. "It's horrible," she warned him when he was about to take a sip of the damping hot mud. Jamie smiled. Evidently she had tasted it, and she wasn't far of the track to judging the coffee, he thought. Kramer was surrounded by glass walls and they could see her at all times. She was sleeping on the meds, quiet and peaceful. Jamie and Eddie stayed for a couple of hours, checking out who ever walked by the door.

"I don't think anything will happen until the morning," Jamie said and yawned. He stood up to stretch his legs and walked around for a little bit.

"What did I tell you about jinxing us, J.?" Eddie asked and looked at her wrist watch. It was almost half past three in the morning. Sitting in a chair was much more exhausting than driving around the streets. Jamie was wearing dark grey jeans and a dark brown leather jacket over a dark green t-shirt, that looked to have been washed to many times. Like Eddie, he had his badge on a chain around his neck and his gun holstered to his hip. A movement from the room caught his eyes and he turned to se Elizabeth Kramer look around, confused.

"Get a doctor, Eddie," Jamie said and she pushed up from the chair to find someone. There wasn't happening much at this hour in the hospital. Jamie walked in to the room and the young woman's eyes came to rest on him.

"Ms. Kramer, I'm Officer Reagan of the NYPD, how are you feeling?" Jamie asked with a calm voice.

"Everything hurts..." she said and looked around. "Where's Duncan?" she asked, with a slight tremble in his voice as Eddie walked in, followed by a doctor and a nurse.

"We don't know where he is, but we are here to protect you from any harm," Jamie said and stepped back a pace to give doctor room to work. Eddie stood next to him with her arms crossed and her eyes at the woman they were assigned to protect for now.

It was Danny's turn to work the graveyard shift at the 5-4, and as always his temper was a little shorter than during the day. He and Baez had spent a couple of hours working the street for any possible leads to where the suspect would be going. They were working a domestic call gone wrong and the mayor had pulled some strings for the father of the victim. Because of the suspect, he and Baez were put on the case, even though it wasn't a murder. They had talked to a couple of neighbors and the cops on scene, learning that the first responders had taken a trip to the ER, but not much else. Then Danny and Baez had gone to the hospital only to find their victim sedated. Now a call came in on Danny's phone from the hospital.

" _Detective, Elizabeth Kramer is awake and talking. A couple of officers are outside her room,_ " the doctor said and soon Danny and Baez were making their way through the city. They reached the hospital soon after and was pointed in the right direction to the room. They turned the corner and Danny looked at his brother, a little surprised. Jamie only returned the look.

"You caught a murder?" Jamie asked when he got closer. He could see the victim through the glass.

"No, a favor to the mayor," Danny replied. "What happened to you?" he asked and looked at his brother's head.

"We had a run-in with the cause to that favor," Eddie said standing next to Jamie.

"You were the first responders?" Baez asked and both of Jamie and Eddie nodded.

"Now, we're the protecting detail," Jamie said and opened the door. They all walked in, single file and surrounded the bed, Elizabeth looked at them, a little bit dazed.

"Ms. Kramer, I'm Detective Reagan, this here is my partner Detective Baez, we just have a few questions for you, if you are up for it," Danny said.

"Yes, he's my brother, he'll help us find him," Jamie said, when she looked confused at him about the name.

"Anything," she said, trying not to look hesitant.

 _(A/N: I hope you like it, more chapters to come!)_


	2. Chapter 2

_(A/N: Waiting for the new episode and some inspiration. Reviews and ideas are more than welcome!)_

Danny and Baez didn't get anything to go with, so they left the hospital empty-handed. Shortly after they were back at their desks, trying to connect the dots in Duncan Miller's past. Maybe they could find an old place he would still visit. At the same time, they were casing his known associates and friends that might know where he could be.

"You got anything, Baez?" Danny asked his partner, without looking up from the files he was reading. She hummed slightly and shook her head.

"Nothing, yet," she said, deeply concentrated on the computer screen in front of her.

"How hard can it be to find a giant in New York?" Danny asked rhetorically. Duncan Miller's height was unavoidable, he was even a bit taller than the commissioner, he thought.

"Wait, I might have something. Come look at this," Baez said and read the passage again to be sure. "It says here, that he's been in and out of jail, bunking with a bunch of different guys, one of them was a member of the Black Spades, from Greenpoint," she said, and made room for Danny to look at the screen. "Jim Parson, thirty-four, was released a month ago, maybe they were tight?" Baez asked, looking for a hint in Danny's face.

"The Black Spades hire giants for muscle," Danny said and walked back to his desk. "Let's go check out their known locations," Danny said and holstered his gun to his belt.

"Here," Jamie said and handed Eddie another cup of the terrible coffee and a sandwich from the canteen a few floors down. It was half past five in the morning, their 12-hour shift ended in half an hour. He was a little bit drowsy, and his head had started to pound away. He sunk down in the chair next to Eddie and she looked at him.

"How's your head?" she asked and took a bite of the sandwich. She knew him to well, Jamie thought and took a sip from his coffee.

"It's not too bad," he said, avoiding her glance and looking around instead. She didn't answer him.

"If it was bad, would tell me?" she asked and he looked at her for a second, not answering. "I could go get a doctor for you and get your head checked out again," she threatened between to bites. She was still surprising him with her appetite.

"I'm fine, Eddie," he said and yawned. "Just exhausted," he admitted and leaned his head back to the wall. Eddie looked at him for a while and then finished her sandwich.

"I'll drive you home, when we get out, then," she said and ended the conversation like that. She had that there-is-nothing-you-can-do-about-it-tone in her voice so he just went with it. He did have to walk a bit slow back from the canteen, not only because he had to balance two cups of coffee but also because his head was spinning a bit. He had felt fine until he started sitting still. A couple of cops from their precinct arrived at six to relieve them. Jamie and Eddie walked them through the night, even though they already knew, and soon after they were back in the car. They had gone to the hospital in Eddie's car, and now they were headed to Jamie's apartment.

"We're on duty again tonight," Eddie said as she parked at his building. Jamie had tilted his head back and closed his eyes, somewhere along the road.

"What?" he asked a bit slurred and looked around for a second. He glanced at the building next to him. He was home, he thought, and looked at Eddie again.

"You okay, Reagan?" she asked with concern in her face.

"Yeah, I'm just… tired," he said and opened the door and climbed out. He stood still for a second when everything around him moved a little. Eddie saw him wobble, still holding on the door and she exited as well.

"Just tired?" she said and walked around the car to help him. He squinted of the bright sunshine and closed the door he had hung on to.

"I'm fine, Eddie," he insisted and closed his eyes.

"Yeah, I'll bet you are," she said and placed his arm around her shoulders while trying to hold him upright with her arm around his waist. They staggered forward a step and Eddie sighed under his weight. "Jeez, Reagan, you weigh more than you look," she moaned as they reached the main entrance. She silently willed him to put some kind of effort in as they reached his floor.

"Thanks, Eddie," Jamie said and caught the keys in his pocket.

"Sure thing, Reagan," she said when he opened the door. "Let's get you inside," she said and a few seconds later she almost dropped and hurled him on his bed. That had gone from bad to worse in just the few minutes it took them to drive back here, she though as she sat down on the bed to catch her breath. "Sit tight, I'll get you some water," she said and patted him on his shin. She yawned when she walked to the kitchen. Linda had warned them about the possibility of a mild concussion and how it should be treated. Jamie had waved it aside with his usual 'I'm fine', so Linda had mostly talked to Eddie. It looked like she had half a day of looking out for Jamie in front of her. She carried a glass of water back to the bedroom and found Jamie already fast asleep. She put the glass on the bedside table and managed to get his jacket and shoes of. She pulled the curtains, closed the door and fell asleep on the couch with the alarm set for three hours.

Nothing had panned out for Danny and Baez and they both beaded home for a nap before they would start over. Danny parked outside Jamie's building to check up on him. He took the stairs in three steps at the time and opened the door without knocking. He used his own key to the door, and closed it behind him. He stopped for a second when he saw Eddie sprawled on the couch, under a blanket, snoring slightly. As if she sensed him, she opened her eyes and looked around until she realized where she was and her eyes fell on Danny.

"Detective," she said and stood up, realizing the awkwardness displayed in his face. Danny just raised a hand as to stop her

"I'm just checking up on my kid brother," he said and she relaxed a bit.

"He's been better, to be honest," she said and walked past him to the kitchen. "The hit must have been worse than he thought," she said when she grabbed a glass of water. Danny looked at Eddie and the way she looked like she belonged. Even Danny didn't know where to find the glasses. "I figured I could just stay on the couch and wake him up when it was time," she said and sipped the water.

"Thank you for looking after him, Janko," Danny said and trailed off to the bedroom. He opened the door a bit and saw his brother fully clothed on the covers, sleeping as if nothing could harm him.

"How's the case going?" Eddie asked quietly behind him as he closed the door again.

"Let's just say that you'll be the first to know, if we get anywhere," he sighed. He knew that not every case was a slick stream of leads, witnesses and confessions. Far from it, actually. He and Baez had worked the know locations for the Black Spades for hours, without seeing or talking to anybody he knew anything about Duncan Miller.

"We'll be back on the detail tonight," Eddie said, leaning on the side of the couch. "Hopefully, you'll have something by then," she continued and took a sip of the water. She was still tired, it was just past eight in the morning and Danny caught her glance at her watch.

"I'll get going, I need some sleep myself," he said and walked to the door. "You're a good partner, looking out for him, Janko. Tell my kid brother I stopped by and to call me later," he said and walked out the door. He closed it behind him, not moving for a second, thinking of Jamie and his partner. Someday, he thought, as he started down the stairs to his car. Danny smiled to himself, someday they had to realize how great they were for each other. He had never seen Jamie happier, than after a tour with Janko, he thought as he drove down the street in the rush hour morning traffic.

Eddie stared at the door for a couple of minutes, put the glass down on the table and fell back on the couch, legs up on the armrest. She fell asleep inside five minutes.

Later, her alarm buzzed her awake and she walked to the bedroom door, thinking about what Danny would have thought when he walked in. She just stayed in case his speech or memory got slurred and foggy. She knocked vaguely and opened it. Without turning on the lights, she walked in to the dark, searched for the bed and bended over Jamie's contours for a second.

"Jamie?" she asked carefully. No response. She put a hand on his shoulder, surprised at the heat she felt, and tucked it a bit. He must have slept uneasily, she thought. He groaned and rolled to the side. Eddie sat on the edge and yawned. As her eyes got used to the dark, she could sense the glass of water she had left earlier. Just for the fun of it, she dipped her finger in it and dripped it on Jamies face. He huffed, lifted his head and opened his eyes for a second.

"Eddie?" he sounded muffled and sleepy. "What's going on? Did I miss a tour?" he asked and sat up, confused at the situation. Clearly he wasn't as slurred as earlier.

"Easy there, tiger," Eddie said with care and a smile in her voice, gently pushing his shoulders back down. "You hit your head, remember? You have a mild concussion and I'm just checking up on you, all right?" Eddie explained. She was surprised when he said her name, he could see her just as much as she could see his face, which meant not at all. She felt his shoulder relax under her hand and he breathed out heavily.

"I guess… thanks, partner," he said and moved a hand to his sore head. Eddie reached for the glass of water and she found his hand in the dark.

"Here, drink some water," she said and let his fingers grab the glass. He swallowed half of the water and Eddie set the glass back at the table. He hold on to her hand for a second more than was necessary and Eddie gave his hand a squeeze before she let it go. "You should go back to sleep, I'll wake you up later," she said and looked back at the door.

"Are you staying here?" Jamie asked in the dark, a bit confused, and she turned to look at the outline of his face again.

"On the couch," she said and nodded. When he didn't respond right away, she stood up and moved to the door. She heard him move behind her.

"Eddie?" he said when she reached the door. She turned again, waiting for him to say something. "Will you stay here?" he asked, a bit hesitant. Eddie looked at him, thankful for the dark, and nodded. She closed the door and felt her way back to the bed, where Jamie had moved a bit to make room for her. She leaned back, made herself comfortable and looked into the dark at Jamie.

"How's your head?" she asked in the dark.

"Not bad… thank you for staying," he replied. And he didn't sound bad, she thought.

"Sure thing," she said and smiled to herself. "Get some sleep, now. I'll wake you later, just to be safe," she said and forced her eyes shut.

"Yes, ma'am," he whispered and chuckled. Eddie smiled and breathed out like Jamie and they fell asleep.

Danny was back at the 5-4, reading files and thinking about where to go. Baez was sitting in front of him, researching as well, when Danny's cell phone buzzed.

He answered and put the pen down. "Hey, Dad," he said, letting out an impatient breath.

" _How's the case going?_ " Frank's deep voice filled the earpiece and was, as always, calming Danny's nerves.

"Not good, it's like he's disappeared from the face of the Earth," Danny admitted and looked at Baez for a second. "Maybe he'll get sloppy and make a mistake or maybe he'll even try again," he said. They had learned, that Miller had threatened Ms. Kramer a while back, if the police ever got involved.

" _Okay… let me know, if you found anything, the mayor is pressing for progress,_ " Frank said and breathed out. " _How's Jamie?_ " he asked and Danny thought about his kid brother.

"I guess he's still sleeping. He hasn't called me yet. Janko stayed at his place, to keep an eye on his head," Danny said and looked at his watch. It was nearly three in the afternoon, he realized.

" _She's good to him, I noticed,_ " Frank commented. Danny smiled to himself.

"He's been happier, since they partnered up," Danny said, thinking about what had happened just before they had met. Losing a partner, like Jamie had, was hard, but Eddie had managed to get him out on the right side of that, he thought. She's one tough cookie, he recalled Linda saying.

Hours later Eddie woke up, she wondered for a second about where she was until she remembered. She looked to the side, couldn't see Jamie and couldn't hear his breathing either. She fell back against the pillows and sighed. The door to the bathroom opened, lights spilled out with a wave of steam and Jamie stood in the doorway with only a towel around his hips. Eddie's eyes blinked as they got used to the lights and when she realized what she was looking at, she looked away and sat up.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up," Jamie said, and closed the door, so the room went dark again, avoiding the awkward moment. He went to the dresser, to find fresh clothes in the dark.

"It's okay. I just woke up, anyway" she said and stood up, hastily retrieving to the door. When she closed the door behind her, she realized how long she had slept. It was almost half past three as she grabbed the glass and walked to the kitchen. She filled the glass and tried to straighten out the curls and folds on her grey shirt. No luck. She had to go home anyway, she thought and gulped down all the water before going to the couch, where she folded the blanket and collected her phone and purse. The door opened and she lifted her eyes to see Jamie, freshly shaved and damp hair.

"Are you leaving?" he asked, when he saw the purse in her hand.

"Yeah, how's your head? You look better than this morning," she said and he did. He'd got some color in his face again. He nodded and walked to the kitchen.

"It's good, I'm fine," he said. Did he have a slight trace of disappointment in his voice, Eddie wondered.

"I have to get going… You want me to pick you up on the way?" she asked and stopped at the door with a hand on the handle. Jamie looked at her for a second, and remembered where his car was.

"Yeah, that would be great," he said. Eddie turned and opened the door.

"Oh," she said and turned towards him again. "Your brother wants you to call him," she said, almost forgetting it in her haste.

"Danny? When did he call?" Jamie asked curiously. He hadn't noticed.

"He didn't… he stopped by to check on you this morning…" Eddie replied. Jamie couldn't stop thinking about how all his family now knew that Eddie had slept at his place. And they were all going to let him know they knew, next time they saw him. He sighed with a tiny smile on his face.

"Thanks for staying, Eddie," he said and caught her eyes. The glance between them said more than words could ever do. She nodded and left. Jamie found his phone in the jacket Eddie had pulled of him. Danny answered after the second ring.

" _Hey, kid brother, how are you feeling?_ " Danny asked right away with a cheerful voice.

"Just a light headache," he answered and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

" _I guess Janko took good care of you, then?_ " Jamie could almost hear the smirk on his brother's face.

"You wanted me to call you?" Jamie just said, ignoring his brother's question.

" _Yeah, I just got a call from the hospital that Elizabeth Kramer is being discharges from the hospital. The officers, Mulholland and Perez, are taking her to a motel where she'll stay until this blows over. Also, I think Linda, Erin and Nicky wants to know when you're bringing that partner of yours home for a Sunday Dinner?_ " Jamie could literally hear the smile now and he couldn't stop smiling himself.

"Goodbye, Danny," he said, trying to speak clear and annoyed.

" _I'll see you later, kid,_ " Danny laughed and Jamie cut the connection.

 _(A/N: Stay tuned!)_


	3. Chapter 3

At six, sharp, Jamie and Eddie knocked on the door to the motel room and the door was opened a bit, stopped by the chain. Perez looked through the crack, removed the chain and opened the door to let them in. He and his partner Mulholland was in street clothes as well.

"Nice to see, you look better, Reagan," Mulholland said from the chair in the corner and stood up. Both of the men looked tired and worn out.

"Yeah, anything?" he asked as he put his jacket on the hanger, next to Eddie's. She looked a lot better after a shower and some food, he had thought, when she picked him up again.

"Nothing, she's just finishing up in the shower. We had lunch a few hours ago," Perez said and stifled a yawn when he put on his jacket.

"You should get going, guys," Jamie said and checked the window across the room.

"See ya' later, Reagan and Janko," Mulholland said and closed the door after him. Eddie sat down in the chair Mulholland had left and looked around. The door to the bathroom opened and both Eddie and Jamie looked at Elizabeth Kramer, fully dressed and with damp hair, in the doorway.

"Hey," she said, recognizing the two cops from the hospital. Jamie nodded and Eddie spoke up.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving," she said, sprawled in the comfortable chair. Jamie smiled to himself. Back to normal, like this morning had never happened, he thought.

"You're always starving, Eddie, when you ate last?" he asked and Elizabeth smiled of them. Eddie tried to look innocent.

"Only, like, two hours ago," she admitted.

"I'm a bit hungry, too," Elizabeth said.

"It's settled, then," Eddie said and looked at Jamie. She knew one of them had to stay, while the other went out find some food.

"I'll go," he said, reading Eddie's glance. It told him that Elizabeth might need some girl-time, so he grabbed his jacket and covered the gun at his hip when he put it on. He turned to Eddie, seriousness in his eyes.

"If anything happens, you call me, all right?" Jamie checked his phone and put it in the pocket again. Eddie nodded and Jamie walked out the door, standing still for a moment until he heard the chain rattle and the door being locked. Then he set out to find take-away. He looked around when he got the chance to check the dimly lit shadows behind dumpsters and corners.

Danny was on his way back from coffee run when his phone rang. He was just a block away from his precinct when he answered it, juggling with two cups in one hand.

"Reagan," he said, sounding a little bit annoyed and preoccupied.

"Detective Reagan, I'm Detective Salazar from the 36th, the guns and gangs unit, I believe I have some information you would want to hear," the clear voice said with a hint of Hispanic. Danny knew of him, and his reputation, so he stopped walking for a second, listening close.

"Yeah, what's it about, Detective?" he asked, an uneasy feeling crept into him.

"Right now, my unit is working closely with the DEA on the Black Spades," Danny's heart leapt into his throat for a second.

"Go on," he encouraged and started walking towards the precinct, faster than before.

"As a matter of fact, we have an inside man and he just reported a name and a possible location he heard. We didn't quite get the connection, until a patrol officer mentioned your case," Salazar said and Danny now feared the worst, as he connected the dots. "The name was Kramer, no first name," he broke off for a second talking to a coworker in the background. Danny held his breath and was almost running back to the precinct, tossing the cups in the bin he passed. Salazar was back on the phone again. "The location is a motel close to the FDR, that's all he could get out of them," he said, Danny now running through the hall and up the stairs to his desk.

"When did your guy hear this?" Danny asked and slowed down a bit when he reached his desk. Baez looked up at him and saw the glance in his eyes. It told her everything and she stood, grabbed her jacket and soon after, they were working their way down the stairs again.

"It was around five pm, so a couple of hours ago," Salazar said. "He couldn't get it through earlier, because he has to take care of his cover," he said after.

"Do you have anything on the guy who gave up the name? Or maybe a Duncan Miller? 6' 4", 250 pounds, new guy?" Danny asked when he jumped into the car next to Baez and started out on the streets.

"No, nothing, I'm sorry," Salazar replied. Danny sighed, almost in frustration.

"Thanks, Detective," he said and hung up only to dial his kid brother while he relayed the call to Baez. She braced herself when Danny turned the car tight around a corner and then got her phone out to call for backup. Jamie answered on the first ring, obviously ready.

" _Danny? What's up, you got anything?_ " Jamie's voice said over the line, traffic noise in the background.

"The Black Spades knows about your location. We are at least twenty minutes out, they might be closer. What's your status?" Danny almost barked at the cell phone in his hand.

" _Damn, I was just going to get some dinner,_ " Jamie said. Danny heard him turn around and then his footsteps sounded on the line. " _I'll call you back,_ " Jamie said and cut of the line.

Jamie had always been a fast runner and when he cut of his brother he called Eddie. She picked up after what seemed like a decade, laughter in her voice.

" _Hey, Jamie,_ " she said.

"Eddie, listen up, Danny called about a tip, and he says the Black Spades knows where we are. You need to…" Jamie was cut off, when Eddie spoke up, now sounding serious.

" _The door is locked, curtains are drawn and Kramer is locked in the bathroom, I know… it's all quiet outside, same cars, as when we got here,_ " she said. Jamie was in full sprint, which started to show in his breath.

"Backup is on the way, I'm just around the corner," Jamie said and ran a little faster, left hand to his ear and right hand on the butt of his gun, ready to draw if necessary. The sun was setting, it blinded him a little.

" _I'll open the door for you,_ " Eddie said and hung up. Jamie put the phone in his pocket and turned the corner, he slowed down to a jog and his eyes scanned the parking lot for changes. Everything was quiet, he though, just as a movement in the corner of his eyes caused him to turn, grabbing for his gun. Duncan miller had waited behind a van, out of sight to both the room and the road. Jamie was lifted up of the ground with a hand around his neck and another grabbing his arm so he dropped his gun, it skirted away under the van. He was slammed into the side of the van, already seeing stars from running hard to suddenly be out of breath. His head hurt even more now, the stars exploded in his eyes. He couldn't breathe. The door opened and for a second Duncan became distracted enough for Jamie to kick him in his guts. Duncan let out a grunt and bended over and Jamie fell to the ground, heaving for air to fill his lungs and.

"Jamie!" Eddie called from the door, still chained.

"Get inside!" he yelled, husky and gruff, when he saw a second figure run from the other side of the van to the door. Jamie got to his feet as Eddie closed the door. He charged at the man, this one on his own size, both of them slammed into the wall and Jamie threw him around so they fell to the ground. Sirens grew louder, a lot of them, Jamie acknowledged as he threw a punch to the unknown man's left jaw so he fell to the ground, knocked out. A second later, he was grabbed from behind, a giant arm under his chin, blocking the air from entering his lungs. Duncan Miller was upright again, Jamie thought, when a loud shot broke the silence in his head. For a short moment the grip around his neck loosened, but not nearly enough. Another shot made Miller jerk left so Jamie fell to the right, coughing and gasping for air. Red and blue lights flickered when squad cars entered the motel lot. Eddie knelt down next to Jamie and put a hand on his shoulder, just like she had in the morning, when she woke him up, to keep him down.

"You all right, Reagan?" she asked and holstered her gun, he only nodded, that was all he could manage. Officers in blue spilled around them, cuffing the two guys, calling for busses and securing the lot. Elizabeth Kramer was walked out of the room and put in a car, shocked and surprised. Jamie stayed on the ground in the middle of the lot, coughing and wheezing. His head hurt and his breathing was laboured, but he was alive and Eddie was next to him.

"Jamie, you all right, kid brother?" Danny called as he approached in a jog. He knelt on Jamies other side, putting a hand on his chest. Jamie nodded and sat up. Eddie still had her hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah," he coughed. "I'm good," he said and Danny patted him on his back.

"You had me worried for a second, when I saw you on the ground," Danny said and breathed out, relieved.

"Is Kramer all right?" Jamie asked as he moved to stand up. Danny and Eddie stood up on their feet, both of them helped Jamie up. He stood a little slumped over for a second, wheezing, until he stretched out and took a deep, unstable, breath. Eddie ducked away for a second and came back with Jamie's gun in her hand. Jamie secured it and placed it in his holster on his waist.

"A little bit shocked, but not a scratch," Danny said and looked towards the cruiser she was in. Baez made a motion for him to come, so Danny shot Eddie a glance and then looked at Jamie.

"Go to the hospital, kid, I'll see you later. Good job, guys," Danny said and walked to his partner. Eddie let out a relieved sigh and Jamie coughed.

"Are you all right, Janko?" Jamie asked his partner, considering that she had just shot and injured a man.

"Yeah, but you scared me," she admitted softly and caught him around his waist when he swayed a bit. "I'm still hungry, though," she commented when they made their way to the ambulance that had just parked.

"I guess I owe you dinner for saving my life," Jamie hissed and tried to hold back laughter so the pain in his chest and neck wouldn't get worse.

"Oh, I think you need to chip in for appetizers, desserts AND a beer on top of that," she stated and couldn't help smiling at him. Her heart had slipped a beat, when she had seen Jamie locked in the arms of Miller. She let him go when they reached the ambulance and Jamie sat down on the gurney.

"You eat too much, Janko," he said with his hoarse voice when an oxygenated mask was pressed over his mouth and smiled back at her. Renzulli showed up behind Eddie and she turned to face him.

"How's Mr. Ivy League doing?" he asked her, as Jamie himself was answering questions from the EMT's.

"He'll be fine," she said, still sounding relieved. She glanced at the Duncan Miller, when he was loaded in another ambulance. He stared at her, eyes in pain but fully focused on her. He scowled at her until his view was blocked by another officer. She had shot him in the back of his right leg, just above the knee at first, hoping the round wouldn't go through and hit Jamie. The second shot was aimed at his left shoulder, it was riskier, because it was closer to Jamie. But she had to take it to save her partner from being suffocated.

"And you, Janko? Are you going to be fine?" Renzulli asked and looked at her for a second until she nodded.

"She's hungry, Sarge," Jamie said, still hoarse but cheerful, from the back of the ambulance, clearly effected by the clean air in the mask. Eddie and Renzulli turned to see him grinning.

"I think he hit his head a bit too hard… you should go with him to the hospital," Renzulli said with a smile. Eddie nodded.

"Will do, Sarge," she said, when Renzulli walked over to Danny and Baez, searching for updates on the case.

"Ready to go, partner," Jamie called out, still hoarse. Eddie turned her head to the sound of Jamie's voice and she smiled when she stood up. He was holding a hand on his sore ribs and walked a more cautious than normal. But he was almost smiling, she thought, and fell in next to him.

"I was thinking of pizza, but I wondered if burgers and beers are more like it," she started. Renzulli had clocked them out, so they didn't have to go back to the precinct at all. For the second time in the short period they walked out from the hospital and towards Eddie's car. She couldn't help but feel a bit alert due to the day's action. She was wondering if that was caused by the adrenaline or the shock of having shot a man. She had pulled the trigger at lots of paper targets and she had even killed a man that once drew on her. That was something she could never forget.

"Burgers and beers it is," Jamie said and headed for the passenger side. Eddie could feel him glance at her when she passed the fender on the car.

"What, Reagan?" she asked and pushed the nagging feeling aside while plastering a grin on her face. "Let's go eat, I've been starving since… forever," she said with a smug. "I almost forgot when I ate the last time," she said and smiled because she made Jamie smile.

"We got the bad guys today," Jamie said as he gently lowered himself down into the seat.

"And that demands celebration and food," Eddie continued and laughed as they drove out on the streets.

Danny had been talking to a lot of people when they decided to stop for the day. Elizabeth Kramer was back in her apartment, a detail was out on the street in the front, just to be safe. Renzulli was put in the loop and he was kind enough to pull Jamie and Eddie out for the rest of their shift. Frank had called and wanted an update for him and the mayor. Gregory Kramer had stopped by the 5-4 to give thank the detectives and officers in person. Duncan Miller had not yet been questioned, because he was sedated at the moment. His partner in crime and also former cell mate, Jim Parson, had clamped up like an oyster. The only words in his vocabulary seemed to be 'lawyer', 'lawyer, goddammit' and utter silence. He couldn't blame him for not exercising his rights. But the case against Duncan Miller was almost a slam dunk. The domestic dispute, the first assault on officers and the second, accompanied by Jim Parson was more than enough to keep them both behind bars for a long time.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Baez," Danny said, without looking up from his desk, as she headed out.

"Bright and early, Reagan," she called back and left. Danny was just typing the last words for the day, before he would head home, too. Tomorrow he would take another crack at Duncan Miller and Jim Parson, hopefully they would be more cooperative and able, he thought. His cell phone buzzed on the table and he answered it, annoyed by the disturbance.

"Reagan," he answered. No one replied and Danny looked at the caller ID, having missed it before. Blocked. "Hello?" he asked again. "Who are you?" he demanded and then the like was cut.


	4. Chapter 4

_Have been working a lot, lately, therefore the late update. Read, enjoy, review :)_

A couple of days later, Jamie woke up, still a bit sore in his head and his ribs. He didn't move right away because it was Sunday and he had the day off. Outside the window the sun was shining and it looked to be another hot day in the city. He looked at his watch and sighed as it was almost nine-thirty. He stretched carefully and yawned when he checked his phone and put his feet on the floor. He looked up, when he heard a knock on the door, rather confused.

The knock sounded again, rather persistent and he walked out to the door to open it, dressed in shorts and the old law school t-shirt. He pulled it open, wondering who would disturb the Sunday morning tranquility, and his eyes rested on Eddie.

"Eddie?" Jamie asked, curious and surprised. She walked past him, not saying anything and turned around, uneasy on her feet, her face unreadable.

"Eddie, what's wrong? What happened?" he asked and shut the door behind him, clearly starting to worry about the look on his partner's face. She tried to start a sentence a couple of times, twisting her hands and not knowing how to phrase it.

"I got a call… from Fort Dix Correctional this morning," she said bewildered and looked at Jamie, knowing he would know why.

"Your dad? Something happened?" he said, just as surprised. She had only mentioned her father a couple of times. He had run a Ponzi scheme from his company and was serving six to eight years. Eddie hadn't talked to him for three years until Jamie convinced her to visit him.

"He took a beating… in the mess hall," she replied and walked past him to sit on the couch, she had slept on, days before. "It's not bad, bumps and bruises, a mild concussion, but apparently he told a guard to make sure I was all right, she said, with emphasis on 'I'. Jamie looked at her, puzzled by the strange request and sat down next to her.

"Who would do something like that?" Jamie heard himself ask but Eddie just shrugged, looking into the air with empty eyes. "Have you talked with him?" he asked. She shook her head, looking down on her hands fiddling with a strand on a pillow, nervously. "Are you all right?" he asked her, and she shrugged again, not really listening to her partner.

"I don't know what to do," she said when she stood up and walked over to the window. Jamie looked at her back, concern growing in his face. This was difficult, even for him, he though when he stood and walked to the kitchen. A bit later he came back with two cups, one of which he offered Eddie.

"Here," he said quietly and Eddie smiled weakly when she took the coffee from his hand.

"Thanks," she responded, almost silently. Jamie smiled a bit.

"What do you feel like for breakfast?" he asked knowing she had already eaten. But he also knew she wouldn't pass on second breakfast. She looked at him, confused, until she realized he was still in his pajamas and his hair was messy as if he just rolled out of bed.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" she asked apologetic and almost embarrassed.

"Detective Reagan," a deep voice sounded behind Danny. He thought he could get some paperwork done between church and dinner, so he had stopped by the precinct. He turned in his chair to face the Hispanic detective that walked towards him. Danny stood and shook his hand.

"Detective Salazar, how's it going with the DEA?" Danny asked and motioned for him to sit down in the chair next to his desk.

"As well as possible, I suppose. Listen, my man inside the Black Spades says the mood has changed, since you guys arrested Jim Parsons. His brother, Ray, is furious and out for revenge," Salazar said unruffled. Danny, whose interest was now peaked, thought back to the empty phone call he had received a couple of nights before.

"You're kidding?" he said and frowned. It wasn't new to him, that people he had cuffed, was looking for pay back. Salazar simply shook his head.

"The word has gotten out, an inmate from the Black Spades has already put another inmate in the hospital wing at Fort Dix, though we aren't sure of the connection yet," Danny looked puzzled for a moment. Fort Dix rang a bell, but he wasn't quite sure why.

"Who was the prisoner that was beaten?" Danny asked with his gut instincts already screaming.

"He's in for a Ponzi scheme, his name is…" Salazar started but Danny interrupted him with a single word.

"Janko." He said when he breathed in. He only knew, because he had checked out Eddie's file, when she and Jamie were partnered. Salazar looked at him in disbelief, not knowing how Danny could know. Danny's mind raced away with thoughts and what not. Jamie had knocked out Jim Parson at the motel and Eddie had shot Duncan Miller, twice, in fact. Neither Danny, Jamie or Eddie had been the ones to put the cuffs on the guys, literally.

"How did you..?" Salazar asked, looking at the wheels turning inside Danny's head.

"Janko's daughter, a cop, was on the protective detail of Kramer, when it all escalated," Danny explained and dialed his brother.

" _Hey, Danny, can I call you later?_ " Jamie asked when he answered the phone. Danny was a bit puzzled by the tone in his brother's voice. He was there, but kind of distant, like he was preoccupied with something. It sounded like he was out on the streets.

"Kid, listen to me, your partner's father was jumped in prison this morning," Danny started.

" _Yeah, I know, she told me already, we're just heading for a late breakfast at Joy & Snook's,_" Jamie answered, more focused on the call now. " _Wait, how do you know about that?_ " he asked with surprise in his voice.

"It looks like the Black Spades are looking for revenge," Danny said and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He heard some muffled sounds, probably Jamie talking to his partner. "Wait, did you say late breakfast?" Danny asked, getting all kinds of thoughts and images in his mind of Jamie and Eddie.

" _Really, Danny, how do you even…_ " Jamie started, but was cut short by a handful of loud cracks.

Eddie saw the gun first and pushed Jamie to the side, only to follow him to the ground. He dropped the phone when he landed hard on his shoulder. Eddie was next to him, both of them shielding their heads with their arms. Splintered glass covered their backs. Fortunately there weren't many people around them, but the few there were, screamed in panic and ran away. The shooting had stopped, just as quickly as it had started, from the passenger seat, in a battered, blue van parked at the curb.

"Janko!" Jamie called and she dared to look at him, eyes full of angst, not knowing what would happen. Two masked figures emerged from the back of the van, one of them hoisted Eddie on to her feet, but she caught him square on the jaw with her elbow. The other one reached for Jamie, only to be kicked in the gut. The third man, the one on the passenger seat with the gun, stepped out and aimed at Jamie.

"Reagan!" Eddie called when her arm was twisted to her back and she was forced towards the van. Jamie jumped to his feet and before he knew what happened, he was punched in the stomach and lost his breath. He was hauled into the van, with Eddie, gasping for the air to fill his lungs. Temporarily incapacitated, his hands were duck taped at his back, just like Eddie's.

"What the hell?!" Eddie muttered under her breath, looking at Jamie with her wild eyes. Jamie could hear the blood flow in his ears. They were both laying on their fronts, facing two of the men. Jamie shifted his eyes from Eddie to their attackers.

"What's going on?!" he asked and almost demanded attention from the two masked men. They were about as tall as Jamie himself, but they were wider and heavier than his own lean frame.

"Shut up," the man on the left sneered with a grumpy voice.

"Who the hell are you?" Eddie asked from Jamies left side. Her voice didn't carry any evidence of being frightened. The man on the left looked at her, not answering. The van turned right, it didn't seem to go faster than normal, Jamie thought. The driver wouldn't want to draw any attention to him. Jamie looked at the men.

"The Black Spades, am I right?" he asked, the guy on the left stiffened, the one on the right shot him a glance. Bingo, he thought, but the joy was short lived, because he took a well delivered blow to the side of his head, that knocked him out.

"Reagan!" Baez called from the doorway of the store, with the shattered window, demanding the attention of her partner. He turned and walked to her with quick strides. "We got it all on CCTV, come take a look," she said and walked into the back room. Danny followed in her steps, recalling the last he'd heard on the phone was shots and breaking glass. Jamie's phone was found just in the middle of the shattered glass on the sidewalk. The camera was placed behind the counter.

"There they are," Danny said and looked at the grainy footage showing the inside of the shop and the outside through the window. He looked at Jamie and Eddie, walking side by side, Jamie with a hand to his ear, talking to Danny. They walked into the frame from the left and then they both fell to the ground. "Rewind that," Danny said and he saw it happen again. "Again, slower, this time," he said and this time he saw Eddie jumping into Jamie, both of them falling to the ground as the window broke and rained down on them. The shots were fired from the corner of the screen, only about fourteen feet from Jamie and Eddie. They didn't look like they hit any of them, which was a miracle in itself. Next thing that happened gave Danny a knot in his stomach. Two men, wearing masks, approached them. Baez watched Danny give a little smile, when Eddie knocked some teeth loose on one of the guy. And she watched the tension in Danny's jaw, when he watched his brother take a blow to his stomach. They were hurled in the back of the van before it took off to the right of the screen. Fortunately, no other people had been hurt.

"Already called in a BOLO on the van's description," Baez said.

"Can we get the plates?" Danny asked, already knowing the answer would be no because of the angle. If they got lucky, they could find another camera with another angle. Danny's phone buzzed in his pocket and he answered it, already knowing who the caller was.

" _Danny, what happened?_ " Frank's deep voice sounded tense on the phone. Danny walked out to the front of the store, rubbing his face.

"Jamie and Eddie…" Danny started, not quite knowing how to formulate his brother's kidnapping. "Someone took them, and I'm pretty sure I know who did it… or at least, who orchestrated it," he blurted out while looking out on the street, filled with crusted glass.

" _Any leads?_ " Frank asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

"We have a description on the van, we're working on a plate. We've got nothing on the four men," Danny said, already thinking of how to approach Salazar's about his inside man. "I have to go, Dad, I'll keep you posted," Danny said and disconnected the call without waiting for his father's reply. Baez had stepped up next to him, also on the phone, looking at him with deep furrows in her face.

"We'll be there in fifteen," she said and disconnected her call, too. She turned to Danny, not liking the cramped expression on his face. "A cruiser just spotted a van, matching our description, on a parking lot near Marcy Playground," she said. Danny could see, there was more to come. He raised his eyebrow, as to hurry her.

"That's two miles from here," he said and looked north, up the street, when they walked out to their car.

"They glanced through the back windows and saw a couple of masks and a little bit of blood on the floor," Baez said, Danny already moving faster. He knew they probably wouldn't find anything that could help, such as getting the addressed served on a plate. While Baez drove the car, much to Danny's displease, he dialed Salazar, hoping for some insider's trading.

" _Salazar,_ " the detective answered after the second call, a little out of breath.

"Salazar, it's Detective Reagan, I need to talk to your guy, forthwith," he said with urgency in his voice.

" _Get in line, so do I…_ " Salazar started and broke off for a second. The background noise disappeared, a chair creaked and the detective sighed. " _I'm sorry, Reagan, it's not possible right now. We lost contact about half an hour ago together with his tracking device, I'm telling you, the DEA..._ " he made a whistle sound, as if to sound impressed or surprised.

"Tracking device," Danny mumbled and Baez shot a glance in his direction, questions in her eyes. "Are you telling me, that you have a last known location? I've got two officers that were taken by the Black Spades, an hour ago, one of them is Janko, and the other one is my kid brother," Danny said, now sounding agitated.

" _You're kidding me,_ " Salazar said, realization dawned upon him. Danny rolled his eyes at the phone.

"Do I sound like I'm joking about the lives of two officers?!" Danny growled and pinched the bridge of his nose when he sighed. The background noise was back and Danny heard footsteps on the line.

" _How fast can you get to Varick Avenue?_ " Salazar asked, clearly walking fast.

"Varick Avenue?" Danny repeated and looked at his watch. "Thirty minutes," he said and looked at Baez, when she glanced at him. "Make that twenty minutes," he corrected himself, addressing both Salazar and Baez, who caught on quick and speeded up.

" _See you there,_ " Salazar said and the line went dead.

"They lost contact with their guy half an hour after Jamie and Eddie were taken. His cover was probably blown," Danny said. Although the words hadn't been mentioned, both he and Salazar knew. Someone made the connection, Danny thought, which meant they weren't as dim-witted as normal.

Eddie was breathing through her nose because her mouth was covered with duck tape. She was lying on her side, wrists taped together behind her back. Her ankles were taped as well. Her head rested on the cold floor, her eyes were closed. She had tried hard to move, to get out, to loosen the tape, to do anything, actually, but instead it had drained her for strength. Jamie had been out could since he took the massive blow to his head, in the van, but he was tied up just like Eddie was, and lying on his stomach in front of her. The first leg of the journey was in the back of the van and took about fifteen minutes. Then they had switched to another van and drove for fifteen minutes more. She reckoned they started out heading north, and then east, but then they had turned more often and she had lost track. She opened her eyes when he stirred and mumbled behind the tape. She lifted her head when he did and when his eyes focused on hers she almost let go of a tear of relief and joy to see him awake. His eyebrows shot up and his eyes asking the 'you-all-right-question' when he mumbled. Eddie nodded and they both sighed, Jamie looked around. Eddie's mind had gone crazy with ideas and thoughts to where they were, why they were there and what would happen. She knew Jamie was talking to Danny when it all happened, so he would definitely be working to find them. She kept telling herself Danny would find them. The door near their feet opened and a big guy walked in. She recognized him as the guy on the right, because they had left behind their masks. He was also the one that had gotten Eddie's elbow in the face, according to his broken nose and the crusted blood stains. He closed the door behind him, silently and hurried over to them, getting the confused looks in Jamie and Eddie's faces. He sat down and with a finger to his lips he removed the tape across their mouths, Eddie first and then Jamie, so they could talk.

"Man, this is bad," he whispered and looked at the door over his shoulder before he looked back at Jamie. "Marcus Rivers, undercover detective, liaison to the DEA, nice to meet you," he said ironic with a wry smile on his face. Eddie looked at him in disbelief when he pulled a bottle of water out of his jacket pocket. He offered Eddie a sip, which she greedily accepted. Water had never tasted better, she thought.

"I'm Jamie Reagan and this is my partner Eddie Janko… Can you get word out?" Jamie asked quiet. Marcus looked at him for a second.

"Reagan as in the commissioner?" he asked rhetorically. "No, they ordered every piece of tech in a bowl with water. Watches and keys, too," he said and looked over his shoulder again, listening for footsteps. He offered Jamie some water and he, too, swallowed the cold fluid.

"Listen, I've missed two windows with my unit, so they would start to get nervous by now. I don't know what they want with you, but I'm guessing it has something to do with Ray Parson's brother, Jim, and his new best friend from jail," he said with eyes shifting between the two officers in front of him.

"Well, I did shoot Miller," Eddie admitted as if it might be the key to all of it. Marcus looked at her.

"Yeah, that would do," he said and nodded like he agreed. "I can't really get you out of here, no way out but the front door. I can't make any promises to you not getting hurt, but I'll do my best," he said and offered them more water. "I have to go," he said and he flinched when he put the tape back on Jamie's mouth.

"I'm sorry for your nose," Eddie said and he smiled briefly when he put the tape back on her mouth.

"Nice one, by the way," he said and winked at her. Then his face got serious again and he looked at Jamie. "Stay alive, guys," he said and walked out the door. Eddie looked at Jamie, both of them hoping Danny would get there in time.

 _What do you think? Reviews, ideas and inputs are more than welcome._


	5. Chapter 5

_I apologize the late update - I'm covering for my boss, whose on sick leave. Last week alone I worked 51 hours! But, non the less, thank you for your patience, grasshoppers. Here is your reward - a small chapter, with waaay too much happening :) Read on, and let me know if I overdid it with my waaay-too-tired-brain!_

Baez slowed the car when they approached the building, they didn't know what was in there and Danny was craning his neck already to no good. They waited for a couple of minutes, until Salazar showed up with a couple of unmarked, dark Crown Vic's, probably the DEA, Danny thought, when they spilled out of the cars.

"Here we go," Baez said and sighed. She knew Danny didn't like the interagency cooperation, partly because of the fed's involvement in the Blue Templar case, that had caused Joe's death a few years back. Jamie's life had been in danger, too, she recalled from the file, she had read. "Play nice, Danny," she cautioned him before they exited their car. He only growled in response and closed the door harder than necessary.

"Detective Reagan," Salazar greeted and noticed his partner this time.

"Detective Baez," she introduced herself and shook his hand.

"O'Hara, Johnson, this is Detectives Reagan and Baez. This is SAC Dave Johnson and agent Gary O'Hara from the DEA," Salazar introduced the two men in charge. The SAC was deeply tanned and his teeth were glowing to the contrast with the scruffy, blond hair and the dark suit. O'Hara was about a foot taller than all of them and several inches wider over the shoulders. Danny glanced at the impressive mountain in front of him and nodded.

"Let's get to work," he said and nodded towards the building. Johnson and Salazar walked ahead after Danny and Baez, O'Hara signaled to a couple of men to get around the back and secure the exits. They had cased the area on a regularly basis, leaving no stone unturned because of their man inside.

"The layout is simple," Johnson started, "a long hallway, two doors on the left, one to the right, big assembly area dead ahead, rooms in the back," he said with a gruff voice. Danny looked back when a radio chattered. He really had to restrain himself for not running in there, looking for his brother and his partner.

" _Backdoor secure, no sound or movement from inside,_ " a voice said and O'Hara responded.

"Acknowledged. Stand by," he hummed with his sonorous voice. He looked at Johnson who nodded to Salazar and all of them readied their guns, leaning on the wall at the door. Baez turned the handle. Unlocked. She pushed it open and Danny went in followed by the others, guns up high.

Jamie was dozing on his side, him arm was numb from his weight, his head sore from the blow. It seemed like they had been there for hours already. Marcus Rivers had been an unexpected, but welcome surprise. His head hurt, just thinking about it. Eddie was lying in front of him, all tensed up, but calmer than before. They had both realized they could do just about as much as a teaspoon. She was working to get the tape of her mouth by rubbing her cheek on her shoulder. Jamie opened his eyes when she groaned and sighed in frustration.

"'amie!" she mumbled out of the corner, she had managed to loosen. She wriggled a bit and sat up, rolling her shoulders like she had done before. "'e gorra oo som'hin," she huffed when she tried to catch the little piece of tape between her knees. Jamie couldn't do anything but watch. He was too exhausted because of the banging pain in his head and his stomach was complaining about the lack of food. He watched her back as she struggled and finally she got the damn piece of tape off.

"Jamie, don't you dare fall asleep," she started when she turned to him again. Jamie could see the worry in her eyes and nodded. The door opened, apparently it hadn't been locked, Jamie thought. No backdoor. Eddie looked at the man that came in, recognition in her face. He glanced at Jamie for a second, but walked to Eddie. Jamie's heart started pounding away, he could see the greed and hatred in the man's face and he couldn't do anything.

"What the hell do you want from us?" Eddie asked and tried to wriggle backwards. Her voice was strong, filled with disgust. The knife in his hand sprung open and Jamie tried to move. The pain in his head was almost unbearable. He mumbled and Eddie looked at him with panic in her eyes. He, too, had a growing feeling of panic and he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't lose another partner. Millions of thoughts and voices exploded in his head with Vinny's laughter.

"Let's go," the man said and kneeled in front of Eddie.

"Mm-mmm!" Jamie shouted Eddie's name in the tape, wriggling, moving, kicking and turning but he couldn't do anything. The man slid the tape on her ankles, folded the knife and heaved her on her feet. She didn't say a word, just looked at Jamie, frightened.

"Jamie…" she mumbled weakly and was pushed out the door. When the door was closed, but not locked, Jamie had a brief moment of rage and fury, trying to yell his lungs out into the tape, but eventually he had to rest his head back on the floor, because tiny dots were flying around in his blurred vision. He breathed hard, praying for Danny to find them and for Marcus Rivers to keep Eddie safe. With new energy he started to look around the empty room for anything that could come in handy.

Danny felt like punching the wall after they had cleared the building. The only thing inside had been a pile of burned cell phones and other tech. The SAC had nod said much compared to O'Hara, who, occasionally let out a four letter word about the absence of the undercover detective and their well-researched targets. Danny and Baez had been briefed on Marcus Rivers, and knowing his records as a decorated marine, made it a lot easier for Danny. He was too good for his cover to be busted on techs, he thought.

"Where could they be?" Baez asked, with the question directed at Dave Johnson, who seemed more collected than his subordinate, O'Hara. It was unlikely that the DEA had no clue, what so ever, to where the target of a operation might be.

"I would like to know that, too," Danny growled, still trying to play nice. Johnson looked at him, with weary eyes and nothing needed to be said out loud. "Baez, let's go," he glared at the DEA until he turned around.

"Where do you think you are going, Detective?" O'Hara said with his deep voice that articulated his enormous size.

"I'm going to find my kid brother and his partner," Danny called back. "Maybe we can even dig up an undercover NYPD detective as well," he said, ironically, as he walked to head out of the front door. Baez gave the remaining men an apologetic look and hurried along. When she came outside, she caught up with Danny.

"And how do you plan on doing that, exactly?" she asked speculatively when they entered their car. Danny shrugged, he didn't quite know yet. This time, Danny was driving, his state of mind reflected in the car.

"We'll start with the van," he said, hoping it could give them some leads to the whereabouts of this whole mess.

He couldn't just give up and wait for it to be his turn. Not when Eddie was on the wrong side of that damn door, Jamie thought. Somehow he had got himself up on his feet and was jumping around, looking for any kind of thing that could work as a tool. The room was tightly sealed off, even the single, tiny window had been barricaded. He jumped for the wooden chair to sit down, resting his tired body, and when he leaned back he felt it give a little. A tiny stray of hope shot through him and he was refueled with energy. Why hadn't he thought of this before, he wondered, as he grabbed the chair behind his back and tried to swing it into the wall. His heart was pumping hard again with the fear of what was happening outside the door. Once again he picked up the chair, channeling all of his strength to wreck it and he almost face planted the floor when it unexpectedly gave way. A few second later he was working the tape around his hands with the splintered leg. A couple of times it slipped and caught the skin on his wrists, but he only tried harder, while figuring out a plan of escape if the commotion of the breaking chair wasn't enough to attract attention and had him killed before.

Eddie had been placed in a chair in a bigger room while the man went to knock on a door. _Shave and a Haircut – two bits_ , and the door were opened a few seconds later. A small man walked out and Eddie tried to hide the fear in her eyes, when they dawned upon the purple latex gloves on his hands. She was surprised for a second when she realized she looked at another Parson, just smaller. The resemblance was stunning, like she looked like her mother, this guy was definitively related to the Parson from the motel parking lot.

"Ed-eet Janko, I presume," the man said with a revolting smile, he was missing haft a tooth and his breath stank all the way over to Eddie.

"That's Officer Janko to you, dumbass," she corrected him and he nodded, impressed, when she put emphasis on 'officer'. He walked closer to the chair she was in and she couldn't distance herself further from him. "What makes a moron, like you, kidnap two off-duty police officers in bright daylight?" she asked and frowned at his nauseating bodily odor. He laughed at her, a short burst that sounded more like a cough.

"I hear that you were the one to shoot one of my men. That's just as bad as using my brother like a sandbag, if not worse. At least, he will still be able to walk without a cane," he grimaced. "But then… what do you know? I had you brought here, so you could be… how do we say it, Knuckles?" he turned to the man that had brought her in. "Ahh, _enlightened_ , I think the word is," Ray grinned and walked to the door again. Eddie was frozen solid to the chair, not even daring to think or breathe. Ray turned around again like he forgot something. "Uh, you don't have to worry about your partner… he and his brothers will soon be reunited," he laughed again and walked out the door.

"You are lucky if you get to go to prison for this!" Eddie yelled at the door, confused and frightened, worried and scared. Danny. Her spine was tinkling, and her mind was racing. Was Danny walking into a trap? He couldn't be, she thought, when her eyes landed on the newly named Knuckles as he moved forward from the wall. Briefly she wondered about the nickname, but then she stuck to just staying alive at the moment. A faint bang echoed from down the hallway, from where Jamie probably still was lying on the floor all taped up and it caught the big man's attention. When he jerked his head sideways, Eddie pulled her right leg up and kicked out at his kneecap. It crunched and the big guy jolted forward, grabbing his knee, huffing and growling. Eddie jumped up, sprinted across the room towards the hallway. Her hands where still tied up behind her when she pushed open the door with her shoulder and she could have sworn out loud when Marcus Rivers walked out in front of her, completely unaware. They collided, Rivers falling backwards bracing both of them for impact with the floor. When they hit, he laid still for a second only to bring his hand to his pocket and pull out a box cutter.

"How nice to run into you here," he wheezed with little air in his lungs and a tight smile, irony in his voice.

"Where's Jamie? We have to get out!" she said as they both hurried to their feet.

"Can't go, but you should get out," he breathed in and quickly cut the tape on her wrist.

"Why not?" Eddie asked when she rubbed her sore wrists.

"I've been working on this for two years, I'm not just going to drop it," he replied and dragged Eddie by the arm, down the hallway. They both glanced over their shoulders when they heard a thrilling, characteristic click behind them and stopped dead in their tracks, three steps later.

"Give me an excuse," Knuckles said with his gun pointed firmly at Eddie, when they turned around, slowly. His face was read with anger, and he wasn't putting any weight on his left leg. He was clearly in pain, Eddie thought. He tracked the gun to the left, aiming at Marcus. He smiled and nodded.

"Knuckles…" Marcus started in an unfamiliar accent, presumably keeping up with his cover story.

"Copper," he replied, lifting the gun an inch. "Pig," he continued. "Traitor," he said with a lower voice while shaking his head in disgust. Eddie didn't take her eyes of the gun, even if it wasn't trailing her anymore. But moving around, would certainly catch his interests in her again. They were standing in the middle of the hallway. The nearest door was ten feet behind them, same distance to the gun in front of them. No other places to take cover.

"Police is on its way," Eddie tried, much to her regret, as the gun shifted to her again. "If you put the gun down and walk away, right now, you can get away clean," she continued. Jamie was always the best of them to persuade people with weapons in hands, he could even talk down the mentally ill, with knifes in their hands. She damned him for not being there right now. It was quite a predicament, they had gotten themselves into.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it," Knuckles grunted and pulled the trigger. Two shots shattered the silence in the hallway and echoed out, dying away. Two bodies slumped to the ground, their sticky, red blood mixing on the floor. The door behind them flung open, Jamie was leaning on the doorframe, drained for powers, looking at the two people ten feet in front of him. His world fell apart, at that moment. Another shot blazed through the air and whizzed past his ear. He focused once more and threw himself back against the wall, thinking hard. He grabbed the chair leg from the table and steadied himself. When the gun came into view, he slammed the wood down on it hard, pulled it over his shoulder and swung it again horizontally to the man's face. The gun fell to the floor, followed by the man a second later. Jamie threw himself at the gun, grabbed it and turned around the angry growl. For a second everything stood still, both of their hands on the gun between them, wrestling it away from the other. Jamie's eyes had almost every emotion in them. Anger towards the man he was wrestling, disgust by what he had just seen, fear of leaving his family mourning for the loss of another son, sadness for loosing another partner, for loosing Eddie. Three rounds went off between them, both with surprise in their face and both wobbled backwards.

 _I promise I will try to post next chapter in less than 7 days :) Till next time, guys!_


	6. Chapter 6

_I am so terribly sorry for the long wait, that you have endured. But with my boss on sick leave and, ho ho holy reindeer - Christmas, I just haven't had any time at all to write. But here is to you, happy Thanksgiving, merry Christmas and happy Channukah, happy Holidays and have a good New Years Eve, in a few days._

 _/K._

The dull pain form the headache was now pounding behind his eyes. Jamie leaned back on the edge of the table behind him when he suddenly felt dizzy. The big man had slumped to the ground, blood spilling out of his lower abdomen. For a second, Jamie had though he was the one who had been, hit because he felt so hollow. Still with the gun in his hand he looked at his hands, smeared in blood. Then he remembered what he had seen, when he opened the door. Rushing through the doorframe unsteadily, he almost threw himself to the ground next to Eddie, hoping for the best, unable to prepare himself for the worst. He tucked the gun into the small of his back.

"Eddie..." he whispered and immediately put a hand on the bullet wound in her shoulder, feeling relieved when he saw her eyes focus on him. Her face winched in pain and her eyes were all dazed.

"Rivers," she rasped and Jamie shot a look at the body to her side, out of her sight. A bullet had caught him square in the chest, the blood had stopped oozing, his face was pale and his eyes open, showing the last expression. Jamie shook his head and Eddie clenched her eyes shut for a second.

"Are you good to walk?" he asked her, reminding her they were still behind enemy lines. She nodded with a small smile on her face.

"I was shot in the shoulder, Reagan. I think, I can walk just fine," she sipped in a sharp breath when she tried to sit up. Her voice was shaky but it traced a small hint of her natural smile.

"Yeah, as if," Jamie remarked only to receive a deflated look from his partner. He found himself with a tiny smile on his lips, as he helped her up. The pain at the back of his head was returning, more insistent now.

"There should be more people here," Eddie stated vaguely as they walked into the room where she had been sitting earlier. The other door was still closed as they approached it and Jamie released his grip on Eddie when they reached the wall, so she could lean on it. Then he pulled the gun from the small of his back, checking the magazine for bullets. Four rounds, he counted, and one in the chamber. He and Eddie shared a look and she reached for the door handle while Jamie raised the gun. She pushed the door open and Jamie entered the empty warehouse hall.

"Clear," he called back per reflex and Eddie appeared behind him, looking puzzled.

"This doesn't feel right," she said and stepped forward. "Parson was here, just before," she wondered out loud.

"The only ones here are Rivers and the big guy," Jamie muttered, not to mention that they were both dead. They both turned their head towards the door on their left, when they heard voices outside. Quickly Jamie raised the gun and grabbed Eddie's good arm to pull her backwards through the door again. A code was entered on the outside key pad and soon after the door opened. Jamie and Eddie glanced at each other from behind the second door, both of them ready to fight. It wasn't the best hideout, but the considering the lack of time, it would have to do.

"We've got a man on the Detective," a voice said from outside the door. Eddie tensed up, recognizing Ray Parson and remembering what she had been told about Danny. About him and his brothers being reunited. She felt Jamie's breathed in sharp, she realized that he didn't know. They didn't hear a response, clearly the voice was talking to somebody on the phone. "He's solid. He told us about the undercover cop and he warned us in time about the warehouse," Ray continued, from outside the door. They could hear, he wasn't alone, at least two extra pairs of feet could be heard shuffling, not daring to enter the room before their boss. Jamie's head was aching already, this new information only making it worse. Would that mean, there was a mole in the DEA, he wondered and Rivers flickered into his mind. It didn't fit. A rouge agent fed them information from the core of the obvious investigation. That was how they managed to stay a step ahead, Jamie thought, gripping the gun by his side tighter.

"We're on our way to a more… suitable location. This was kind of impromptu, just temporary… no… yes, of course… alright… no, the docks," Ray wasn't a loud talker, but it was hearable. It was just as hearable as the sigh was, when he broke the connection. Jamie glanced at Eddie by his side, they were standing close behind the door, and she was going paler and her shirt was going redder. Not even ten feet away from them, just outside the door, was Ray Parson standing, unaware of them. Jamie recalled the number of bullets, four in the clip, one in the chamber. Essentially, it could be enough to for two double taps and a single shot. Both he and Eddie knew that when Rivers' body was discovered in the hallway at the other side of the room, time would be almost non-existent. Jamie wondered briefly who had been on the other line of the phone call. The way Ray talked to him, it could be his superior.

"Go get them ready for transport, have Knuckles give you a hand, but, please, don't let him rearrange their faces too much," Ray told the two goons when his own footsteps echoed out in the hall. It sounded like he was walking to the other end of the empty warehouse. They couldn't go anywhere for the moment. The outer door was locked with a code and they couldn't hide behind the door forever. Two men walked through the open door, not noticing Jamie and Eddie behind it. They headed straight to the hallway and stopped dead in their tracks. Shortly after, both of them trained their guns up high and walked down the hall, not wanting to alert their superior. The glance the two men they shot each other told Jamie, they were in big trouble.

"Boss!" they heard one of them call out. "You might want to see this," one of them called out, urgency in his brawny voice. They had probably found Knuckles too. Soon after, Ray walked through the door and headed for the hallway.

"What happened?" He barked with obvious anxiety in his voice when he, too, stopped in the hallway. "Knuckles?" he asked and a muffled voice answered.

"Move," Jamie whispered and had already grabbed Eddies arm and pulling her behind him around the door. They skirted across the floor in the warehouse, quick and silent, both of them stumbling to the door. Both of them knew the door with the key pad wasn't an option, as they needed the code. After a few seconds, they reached a door in the far end and Jamie pushed the door open. They tumbled inside and closed the door behind them, unable to suppress the shriek from the hinges. Jamie leaned on the door for a second and rested his head against it. Eddie was doubled over next to him, one hand on her bleeding shoulder, the other on her knee, panting from exhaustion and pain. "Are you all right?" Jamie asked, after squeezing his eyes shut for a couple of seconds. Eddie straightened up and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm good," she said doubtingly when she looked at the wound in her shoulder. That might scar, she thought, but didn't fully realize she had been shot until then. Jamie flinched at her and looked around. They were in some sort of office, a desk and open filing cabinets stood empty and scattered around the back wall. No doors, no windows big enough to fit through. Jamie set of to the desk and hauled it across the floor so it jammed the door. That might keep them safe for a little while.

When the crime scene unit arrived, Danny had already gone over most of the car, inventorying a couple of ski masks in the back, just like the ones carried on the video from the store. A couple of times he had caught himself glancing at the little puddle of blood, no bigger than a curled fist, on the floor. It could be nothing more than a simple nosebleed from a punch, or a nicked eyebrow for that matter. But knowing his brother Jamie would bleed a lot more from a nosebleed, it would look like a freaking trauma room, if that was the case. Baez walked to his side, looking at the blood too.

"We will find them, Danny," she said, hoping and praying for that to become true. She had a feeling, that Danny couldn't take the loss of his youngest brother, no matter the amount of bicker and banter between them. That would destroy him, she thought.

"Bet your ass, we will," he mumbled and turned to walk to their car. There was nothing particular in the dark blue van, except the front looking like a trash can. "See if you can find any CCTV nearby, maybe we'll get something, a face or a direction, at least. I have somewhere else to be," he said and drew his hand over his face, through the hair to his neck, rubbing the tense muscles.

"Sounds like a plan, I'll meet you back at the precinct," Baez replied and turned back to face the CSU guys. Danny drove off, driving less careless now, as he was speculating. Thirty minutes later, he found himself in front of his brother's and mother's grave. It hadn't been the place he aimed to be, but he had found himself driving on autopilot and somehow ended up at the cemetery. The headstones were still beautiful and unmarked by the weather. Someone had stopped be with flowers, recently, Danny noticed. It had only been a couple of months since the anniversary of Joe's death, but the flowers looked nice. He pondered for a little while, debating with himself whether to say something or not.

"I promise, I'll get him back safely," he murmured at the graves and turned to the car. "I promise," he whispered, this time to himself and as he drove off, back to the precinct, a ton of thoughts filled his head.

"Reagan, I found it," Baez said, when she hurried to her computer and plugged in a bus. "I expanded the search two blocks further and found this on an ATM camera," she started out, and let the pictures unfold on the screen as Danny leaned over her shoulder, a little curve in the corner of his mouth. He saw the same van from the security video that morning, heading towards the parking lot where it was dumped. It showed the front of the van and two clear faces, one of them grinning arrogantly to the driver.

"Any ID's yet?" he asked, impatiently and walked back to his desk, where he sat and grabbed the phone. Baez lightly shook her head.

"No, not yet, we are still canvassing the most eastern part. Every cop out there, has a screenshot of these two and are ordered to call if, they spot them in any other vehicle. If not, I think we can assume, they are still in the radius of the van," she said. She didn't bother to ask about Danny's whereabouts, though she had a feeling it was more personal, than work related.

"Salazar, it's Reagan… can you and your friends from the DEA come by the 5-4?.." he asked and looked from his desk to the air in front of him. "Yeah, we have a couple of faces for you to ID… great," he smiled and hung up the phone with a frown, not really pleased about having to ask them for help in the case. He didn't actually like the two guys from the DEA, the agent was too much of everything, too big, too loud, too talkative, swearing too much. The SAC, on the other hand, was silent, tanned, white-teethed, blonde, and seemed to inactive for his job. "This ought to be fun," he said, and laughed at his own words.

When the three men arrived, Danny showed it to them, looking at their faces for any signs. The giant agent, Gary O'Hara, clasped his teeth and curled his fist. The muscles in his neck were commandeered to relax and fall. He looked like he was holding back a lot of rather unpleasant words. The SAC, Dave Johnson, with the perfect everything, only squinted his eyes at the quality and moved closer to the screen.

"The one at the steering wheel, can you zoom in on him? I don't think he is in our files, but…" he trailed off, tilting his head a little bit as to look from a different angle.

"But what?" Danny encouraged, his brows raised in question. Salazar looked at the man, a quizzical look in his eyes. He looked like he was thinking hard.

"He is… I mean, he is not in the file, but we have heard of him before, right?" he asked the two men on his right. "I think this might be the 'Knuckles' Rivers was talking about," he said and switched his look to Danny. "A nasty piece of garbage, if you ask me," he confirmed.

"Who is he?" Baez asked from behind them.

"Nothing in the databases, no fingerprint, no facial-rec, we have nothing on this guy except that he might be the one to do the worst of the dirty work," Johnson cut in, not looking away from the monitor in the tech room. Salazar pulled his shoulder and had a 'meh-face'.

"That's one way to put it. Rivers says, he is Ray's right hand man, and the word on the streets..." he whistled, almost impressed. "Not a man you want to come across in an alleyway," he said and stood up straight again, Johnson followed suit. O'Hara was impatient and took a lot of space in the room, as he did not stand still. Danny looked at Baez with a look in his eyes, they both understood.

"I'll make some calls about him, maybe we can find something," O'Hara said en left the room in a hurry. Danny looked at his back for a second, until the door swung shut again.

 _Be sure to review and/or comment - let me know how I did :) Thanks for reading. See ya'._


	7. Chapter 7

_Hang on for some action in this one. Thought it couldn't get any worse? Think again. Enjoy._

"I don't believe it," Jamie whispered, perplexity in his eyes when he looked at his partner. Eddie had just told him about what Ray Parson had talked about when she was tied up in the chair. "Someone has been playing them right from the start, and now Danny is involved," Jamie said, ready to punch out a few teeth. And not to make everything worse, they were trapped, with no way out. A cell phone buzzed near them, causing them both to jump. Eddie moved a little bit slower than Jamie, when they looked for the source, which was clearly inside the room. Hope grew in both their eyes, when Eddie opened a full sized cabinet with a coat on a hanger inside.

"Jamie, over here," she called and rushed through the pockets with her one good hand. The other one was loosely hanging in the improvised sling Jamie had made from a scarf that was thrown on the table he had moved. She handed it to Jamie and he looked at the caller ID. Unknown. He glanced at Eddie and she nodded, encouraging. He hit the green button.

" _It's me… they have your guy's faces,_ " a deep, sonorous voice echoed on the line. Jamie didn't answer and Eddie stared at the phone. " _The detective is on to you, it is only a matter of time, before he knows too much. If he gets too close, I'll have to… here he is, I got to go," the voice finished and the line went dead. Eddie's mouth had dropped, and she looked at Jamie, not knowing what to say._

"We have to call Danny," she mumbled and could only think about what was running through her partner's head, right now. "We'll call him, and he'll come get us out of here," Jamie only looked ahead, into the empty air. "Jamie!" Eddie hissed, raising her voice a tiny fraction, so that Jamie would react. The tone in her voice, snapped him back to reality and his eyes told her that he was partly confused, partly angry and totally helpless. She put her good hand on his shoulder. "If you brother is anything like you at all, he can handle what's coming at him, trust me," she said and held his eyes with hers. She trusted Jamie and believed in the Reagan's. Her face was pale, and her eyes rimmed with red, but to Jamie, she had never looked better.

"You are right," Jamie mumbled, and Eddie looked a little bit stunned for half a second, then she smiled, and her shoulders relaxed. Jamie wrapped his fingers around her wrist and smiled at her. The close proximity was comforting both of them. The phone still in hand, he looked at the display and dialed his brother and put it on speaker. Two rings later it was answered.

"Reagan," Danny huffed when he answered the phone, even more irritated and grumpy than normal, while working a long case. This was taking its toll on him, almost gave him more gray hair than he already had.

" _Danny, don't say anything and listen carefully, you have to be careful and watch your ba…_ " Danny froze involuntarily when he heard the voice of his brother. A cold sweat broke out in his tightened hands shortly after, when the line was disrupted. He was filled with every emotion known to mankind. He was happy to hear his brother alive, angry that he wasn't next to him, scared of the cause that cut them off. He looked at O'Hara, who had just finished a call and looked quite tense. Baez, Johnson and Salazar had followed him out of the tech room and talked, presumably about the case and what to do. Baez looked to be in charge of the two men, as this was her precinct, and they were guests. Danny motioned for her, that he needed to talk to her alone, and the look in his eyes told her it was important. Seconds later they were standing in the observations room and Danny let her in on the recent call.

"Are you sure he said 'watch your back'?" Baez asked, puzzled. She was impressed with Danny, who had not uttered a word, when receiving the call. "Wait, do you think they have a mole in here?" she asked and looked at the door with furrows in her brows. Danny pulled his shoulders and hummed.

"I don't know, the line went dead before he could say anything more," he answered. And that had made him uneasy. It was quite the understatement, but he kept his head cool. His mother, Mary, would have been so proud of him, he briefly thought. "Let's keep it quiet until we know anything. Have someone keep an eye out for any unusual 9-1-1-calls, still in the city. Then I want you to go down to 1PP and update the Commissioner," Danny said and looked at the door. "I'll try figuring out what the hell is happening," he finished, just as Baez's phone started buzzing.

"Yes… say again… no, we'll be right there in, say fifteen minutes?.. great," she hung up and Danny looked at her, expecting some good news.

"Well?" he asked as soon as she had pressed the end-button.

"They have been spotted, heading west in another van, plates unreadable," she said and they walked out of the observation room.

"Let's go take a look," Danny said, almost whispering it, when they got closer to the three men. Two of them were fairly impatient but calmer than the giant, who was pacing next to them, wearing a hole in the floor. "Thanks for the update on the two ID's," Danny said and grabbed his jacket off of the back of his chair. "We'll take it from here and call you with any updates," he said, while he slid on his jacket and secured his weapon. He and Baez walked to the elevator and out of sight from the three men.

"O'Hara seems a little edgy," Baez commented quiet. Danny looked back over his shoulder. He did seem in a hurry to make a call before and he did end it quickly, when Danny walked up behind him. And that was just seconds before he received the call from Jamie.

"Jamie?" Eddie coughed because of the smoke and all the dust particles in the air. Rubble and fragments of the door and ceiling were scattered around them. Jamie had been standing between her and the door, when something outside it exploded. It had knocked them both to the ground, before they could react, and now Jamie's body pinned her to the floor, the angle a little askew. "Reagan," she said hoarsely. Everything hurt, when she tried to push the dead weight off of her. "Jamie, wake up," she coughed again. Her eyes and throat were burning. A tear trickled to her ear and left a cleat stripe on her darkened skin. Her heart skipped a beat, when she felt Jamie stir. "Hey, hey, hey, Jamie, open your eyes… we have to get out," she smiled hesitantly when he lifted his head from the floor. His eyes tried to focus and he squeezed them together when he felt the pain. Blood trickled from the right side of his head, above his ear. "Move, Reagan," she said, more determined and he managed to roll onto his side so that Eddie could slip away from under him. He moaned painfully when it caused him to move.

"Eddie," he huffed with deep furrows in his face. Cuts dripped and the sod made him look awful.

"Yeah, I know, I know, it hurts, but we have to get out. You have to help me," she said and tried to stand up. She didn't need to be a doctor to see that his left shoulder was busted. She needed a lot of help, to get him out, no way, she could do it on her own, not even without a bullet wound in her arm. Two shapes formed in the blown away door.

Danny demanded the young officer to play the tape, and shortly after he had put out a BOLO on the white panel van, an older Ford Explorer. Not even five minutes later his phone rang, he and Baez were walking back to the car.

"Reagan," he said, stopping his movement to open the car door, when he heard the background noise of sirens.

"Detective Reagan, this is Lieutenant Lewis out of stationhouse 2-7, we just located a van, matching the description in your BOLO," a hoarse, exasperated voice sounded.

"Where? What happened?" Danny asked, catching a glance from Baez from the other side of the car.

"In the south-east corner warehouse at Tallman Island Wastewater Treatment Plant," Lewis said under his breath. "There has been an explosion, now…" he stopped talking when Danny cut him off.

"Explosion? Anybody hurt?" Baez's eyebrows shot together, questioning and terrified.

"We do have it under control, and we found no one inside. Only the van," Lewis said, talking calmly and clarified.

"All right, we'll be there in ten minutes, don't touch anything," Danny ordered and hung up, rushing in to the car and down the road while he updated Baez.

Not even eight minutes later they found the Lieutenant surrounded by a couple of firemen, all of them looking at blueprints on the hood of a car.

"Lieutenant? I'm Detective Danny Reagan, this is my partner, Detective Baez," Danny started, eager to get going. It had calmed him a little bit, knowing there had been no people inside, but he was still anxious to find out how the explosion was related to his case.

"Detective, how are you doing?" he started whit a smile to Baez. "I trust you will take a look at the place, before you let your CSU guys take over?" he asked when he excused himself from the group. He was a tall, lean man with broad shoulders and a square face. His voice was just as big as his body. Clearly used to the hard work of being a firefighter. He waved at a seemingly young firefighter and gestured to Danny and Baez. The young man ran off and soon after he returned with two hardhats, one in each hand. "The ceiling in unstable," he explained, almost apologetic, when they put them on. Shortly after they walked in through an open door with a new keypad and headed through the almost empty warehouse hall. "The van is over there?" Baez asked confused when they walked past it in the corner and headed to what was left of a possible office room.

"Yes, but I think you might want to take a look at this first… watch your step," Lewis said and stepped through a hole in the wall. He stepped back and Danny walked past him with Baez behind him. They both looked around. A door and an old desk were blown to pieces, almost unrecognizable. Filing cabinets had been knocked over and most of every surface was black. The foul stench they had smelled when they had opened their car doors, was even worse in here.

"What are we looking at?" Danny asked slightly confused. He didn't do a lot of exploding grime scenes, so he didn't know what to look for. It hadn't burned per say, just exploded in immense heat and died just as fast.

"You see how every surface is covered in sod? And this spot right here?" the lieutenant asked and pointed to a cleared spot on the floor just in front of them. He squatted down on one knee and tracked a finger over the clean floor. "No sod means something covered this surface when it all went boom. And this foot print, too small to be that of a man," Lewis explained.

"Eddie," Danny mumbled. Baez looked at the lieutenant.

"I thought, you said, no one was here?" She asked, clearly still confused.

"I said we didn't find no body, dead or alive. Someone was here when it all exploded, and then they left, before we got here, which was approximately ten minutes later," Lewis said. He could see the distress in the two detectives faces. "Not to contribute to the bad day, you are clearly having but this here," he pointed to a smeared out patch on the floor. Dark red, crusted and with a lot of dust on the surface. "This looks like blood to me," he noted and looked up on the wall. "Like that handprint over there, equivalent to the size of an average man," Danny looked up in the same direction and walked to wall next to the hole. A bloody, smeared out, handprint in shoulder height. Danny guessed it could have been someone leaning on the wall. He suppressed the thought of it being his kid brother. He very much tired to.

"Let's check out the van," he said and walked through the hole that had once been a door. "Do you know anything about the explosion?" he asked when he led the way to the van.

"Caused by a very small amount of Pentaerythritol tetranitrate," Lewis answered, almost sounding proud and well-read. "PETN is a compound in SEMTEX, used for demolition," he explained when Danny looked like he was about to bite his head off. Baez glanced at him with apologetic eyes.

"Only certified people can get their hands on SEMTEX," Baez said when Danny opened the back of the van with a gloved hand. He didn't have high hopes of finding anything, but he was still disappointed when it turned out to be empty. He checked the cabin too, which was empty as well.

"Have CSU turn this place upside down. We might be able to track down the SEMTEX," Danny said and walked outside in the now darkening city. It was almost eight, ten hours after his first phone call with Jamie had been interrupted by a hail of bullets. Baez stopped next to him and looked at his tense and strained face.

"Why don't you go home for that Sunday dinner of yours and a nap? I'll handle this for a while," she offered, slightly bossy, but still kind. When he was about to contradict her, she held up a hand to stop him. "Go home. Eat. Take a shower. Sleep. No but's. I'll take care of this. If anything happens, you'll be my first call. Go. Now." Danny looked stunned at his partner for a second but didn't dare to utter a word before he walked to the car. He knew she could handle it. He knew he needed the rest and the food. And a shower.

The house was almost silent when he walked through the kitchen, even though everyone was still here, except for his brother. Jack and Sean were probably playing upstairs, and if he had to guess, his father was in the study. Linda, Erin and Nicky would be in the living room, talking, and Pops would sit in the armchair with the paper and a drink. Danny looked through the door and when Erin saw him she stood up immediately which caused the others to look up as well.

"How is it going?" Erin asked and stepped closer. Her eyes were rimmed with red and her hair was a mess.

"It feels like I'm three steps behind, all the goddamn time," he growled and enveloped Linda when she silently walked into his arms.

"You will find him, right, Uncle Danny?" Nicky asked and Erin put an arm around her daughter. Nicky was clearly worrying too.

"Of course, I will," he said, trying to sound more hopeful than he felt. Frank had appeared, only seconds after Danny had said the first words. They exchanged a glare and Danny gave Linda's arm a little squeeze when he walked to his father. Danny sat down on the steps in the hallway and Frank stood in the middle, hands behind his back, waiting patiently for an update. Danny started talking his father through the day, Jamie and Eddie going for breakfast, how their first chat this morning had ended, the empty warehouse, and when he mentioned the DEA, Frank had to sit down next to him. He went on about the search for the car, the BOLO's, the search for the second car, the call from the Lieutenant Lewis, the explosion and the evidence in there. When he had finished talking, it was almost nine in the evening and he headed for the kitchen for a late dinner. Afterwards Henry commandeered him upstairs to take a shower and go to bed.

"You won't do anything good, if you pass out in the middle of everything," had his closing argument been.

"Danny, you need to be rested and sharp. Baez will call you if she gets anywhere, so go get some sleep," Erin commented, so Danny swiftly kissed Linda and headed upstairs, too tired to even start an argument with any one with the name 'Reagan'.

Jamie watched, no, stared blankly at Eddie in front of him. They were both lying on the floor in a new location, this time it hadn't been kept a secret. They were surrounded by the East River, the Manhattan Bridge and to the other side, he had seen the Williamsburg Bridge. So he had concluded they were somewhere in north Brooklyn, close to the Navy Yard. At some point their fingers had connected and now they held on to each other. He closed his eyes for a second, it wasn't hard for him to imagine being in a bed instead of the cold floor. With his partner next to him. He opened his eyes again and looked at her tired body. Her skin was pale, she had dark rings under her eyes, and her face was dark with dust from the explosion. She had a few tear stripes down her cheeks. He brushed his thumb over her fingers, still soft, he thought, when she opened her eyes.

"Reagan," she whispered with exhaustion in her face and voice.

"We'll get out," he whispered back. "I promise, I'll get you out of here," he said and smiled, fully exhausted and sore as hell. "I promise," he said and they both smiled.

 _Their luck will turn soon enough. Thanks for reading. Let me know, how I did, will ya? You're awesome! :)_


	8. Chapter 8

_Thanks for reading, let me know how I did on this chapter :) A little surprise for you in the bottom :)_

It was six in the morning, when Danny's phone buzzed him awake.

"Yeah," he said, knowing it could only be his partner. He didn't even have to look at the caller ID.

" _Danny, I have a lead on the SEMTEX. It turns out a badge with four pounds was stolen, no less than five days ago. And get this. It was the same two guys from the footage of the van. One of them, the smaller one of them, left a finger print,_ " Baez said, sounding tired but satisfied.

"You have a name?" Danny asked, already hopping from one foot to another while putting on his pants from yesterday. He had fallen asleep in his old room, and Linda had probably taken the kids home yesterday.

" _Yeah, it's Johnny Wilson, thirty-four, I'll text you the last known address. He's been in an out of Fort Dix Correctional since he was eighteen for possession and theft, mostly,_ " she continued, hoping, that it would ring a bell.

"Fort Dix, you say? That makes sense," Danny noted with the phone between his shoulder and ear.

" _I did some more digging and found a possible location. In between the stays in Fort Dix, he has had multiple jobs, one of which stands out, because it's the longest employment he has ever had. It turns out another worker got him the job. That worker was the bigger one of the two in the footage,_ " Baez said and Danny paused for a second when reaching for the door to the hallway. His tie hanged loosely around his neck and his shirt was still open when he jogged down the stairs. He couldn't help but smile and think that his kid brother would be home soon.

"Who is he?" Danny asked when he walked into the kitchen. Frank and Henry was already up and drinking coffee and eating breakfast. They both looked up when they heard Danny's voice, curious because he didn't sound grumpy but almost as cheerful as possible. It was very unlike him, Frank thought, but didn't interrupt the phone call.

" _Vitali Ivanov, thirty-eight, Russian. The one, they called 'Knuckles'. They were employed near Brooklyn Navy Yard, I couldn't find out what they did, but the firm has recently moved, so the buildings are empty,_ " Baez said when Danny filled a mug with coffee.

"You're kidding? Send me the address, I'll go check it out. Good job, Baez. Go home and get some sleep. When you are rested, I want you to check out O'Hara, all right?" Danny said, only returning the favor she had done for him last night. Shortly after he hung up and took a sip of the coffee. The heat and the caffeine jolted him fully awake instantly.

"What's the good news?" Henry asked from his seat across the counter.

"Baez found some names and connections I'll go check up on," Danny answered and gulped down the rest of the scalding coffee. "I'll call you later with an update," he said when he had placed the cup in the sink and slipped out the door.

"Be careful, Danny," Frank called after him before he drove off. Henry looked at his son's weary eyes.

"He will get them home, Francis," Henry tried, knowing that Danny would stop at nothing to bring back his brother.

At half past six Danny parked the car and cut the engine. He was just going to check out the address Baez had sent him, he thought, when he walked closer. He had parked the car a little bit farther away, so the engine noise wouldn't alert anyone. The big, supposedly empty, building towered over him, seeming bigger yet, with the low morning sun behind it. When he reached the door, tiny in comparison, he stopped to listen and a rumbling laughter caught his ears. He tried the door handle and peeked inside.

" _Did you see the look on the lady cop's face, after the explosion?"_ A man laughed. The laughter was clearly emphasized by the big room and obviously coming from a smaller room across the floor. Danny's stomach turned, knowing this was the place.

" _They are still going to pay for killing Kuckles,_ " another voice said. Danny put a foot in the door, so that it would not make a noise if it closed and then he found the phone in his pocket. He made a call, and shortly after the line was picked up.

"This is Detective Reagan, I need backup at Marshall Street, near Brooklyn Navy Yard forthwith," he said with a low voice and listened. As soon as the order was acknowledged, he slipped the phone in his pocked again, pulled his service weapon and pushed through the door, closing it silently behind him. The adrenaline was already pumping in his ears, when he worked his way along the walls, silent and alerted on the open door, from which the laughter had come from.

"If we didn't have orders, I wouldn't mind some time with the lady cop," the second man laughed, clearly unaware of Danny moving closer outside the door.

"If the boss knew that…" a whistle filled the room after the third voice had talked. The unmistakable sound of a bottle being opened soon followed with the immense laughter from the three men. Danny stopped next to the door, his back against the wall and the gun pointing to the floor. Seconds later the laughter died out and a chair scraped the floor.

"Hold down the fort, I'll take a stroll," the third man said and Danny stepped back from the door, when he realized the man was coming his way. Not even a second later the man stepped through the door. Johnny Wilson. The man was a couple of inches smaller than Danny and very skinny. He looked like the scrawny drug user he was. The first thing Danny noticed was the gun, a semi automatic Colt, in the brown shoulder holster made of leather. It made him look like a mob boss from the eighties, only less intimidating. The second thing he noticed was the look on the man's face, when he realized the presence next to him and the gun pointed at his head, only a few inches away.

"You open your mouth, I'll put a bullet through your head," Danny said slowly and quiet, scowling. "Understand?" he asked and the man nodded, not moving an inch. Danny encouraged the man to move away from the door with his gun and he slowly followed. Then he pushed him up the wall and removed the Colt from the man's holster, still with his own gun trained on the man, now at his back. With one hand, he reached for his cuffs and slammed them on the wrists of his collaborating new friend. In less than a second he grabbed the barrel of the Colt and whipped the butt on the back of Wilson's head. Danny caught him before he collapsed and put him down gently. Making sure the scrawny man wouldn't suffer her moved back to the door, where the two remaining men had become silent.

"Did you hear something?" the second man asked the first, sounding a little bit alarmed.

"It's probably just Wilson, taking a piss outside," the response came, rather dryly.

"I'll go check it out," his partner said, in an anyway-tone and pushed the chair away from the table. Danny heard the growing sirens far away, a second before the two men and he looked to the door he had come through.

"What the hell?!" the man burst out and Danny turned his head back, just in time for it to connect with the searing right hook to his left temple. He swiveled to the right and his gun dropped to the floor, and skidded a away, the second before Danny did. He did not have time to move nor defend himself from the hail of kicks to his body. When he turned to get up a boot connected with his ribcage and he felt it snap before he heard it. The sirens grew louder yet, there were a lot of them. Then the punches started coming in and he felt the presence of another attacker on his other side. Somehow he caught the elbow of the newcomer and twisted his whole body around, so that he was thrown into the first attacker. All three of them tumbled on the ground for a few seconds when one of them grabbed Danny's ankle. Shortly after he kicked himself free and launched for his gun only a few feet away. He grabbed it, threw himself away and turned mid-air and when one of the two attackers towered above him, he pulled the trigger and put three rounds in the guy's chest. Then the door opened and a lot of cops spilled through it, guns raised. The last man, shocked as he was, threw his hands in the air, surrendering, not like the tough cookie he had been ten seconds ago.

"Reagan!" Renzulli called and Danny caught a glimpse of the sergeant over his shoulder. "You're okay?" he asked, when he got closer, three other men in blue covering the last guy. Danny nodded and pulled himself up when Renzulli offered him a hand.

"Peachy. Good timing, by the way," he said with a strained smile on his face and a hand on his side. "Let's clear the building. Jamie and Eddie could be in here," he said and breathed superficially when he started through the door his attackers had come through. With Renzulli on his back, followed by a couple of officers, they walked through the room to the hallway, clearing each of the seemingly empty offices one at a time. The last door on the right was locked and the two experienced men lined up on both sides of it, not knowing what to wind. Danny winched unwillingly when he raised his gun, so Renzulli walked to the center of the hallway and put all his powers in his muscles when he kicked in the big door. For a second, they were stunned by the looks of the two people on the ground, hands touching. Danny couldn't have felt worse, than at that moment.

"Call for a bus, forthwith," Renzulli ordered when he and Danny ran to the two shapes on the ground by the wall. Danny fell to his knees, next to Jamie, anxious to see him move and Renzulli knelt down on one knee next to Eddie. They had both stirred when Renzulli had barked at the other officers before and now Eddie opened her eyes.

"Serge," she whispered and lifted her head weakly. Her clothes were covered in blood from the bullet wound in her shoulder and her face was pale but smeared with black from the explosion.

"No need to get up, kid," the senior officer said gently. "You two can't have a day of, without ending up in trouble, can ya'?" Renzulli asked, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Jamie… come on, kid, open your eyes," Danny begged when he had checked for a pulse. Finding a shallow one he noticed the clearly busted shoulder, the bumps and bruises on his head and the blood covering the right side of it. He looked to be even paler than Eddie, Danny thought, much to disturb his already uneasy gut. Jamie slowly opened his eyes, looking up at the ceiling at first, until he could focus on the presence next to him.

"D'ny," he rasped and closed his eyes while swallowing. Seemingly not able to talk too much, Jamie turned his head and looked at Eddie.

"We heard them… talking," Eddie started, winching at the pain in her shoulder as starting to thump again when the short lived adrenaline disappeared. "Have a guy on you," she said and wetted her lips. "Before the explosion, you walked in on a man, on the phone," she said when paramedics entered the room. "Deep voice, sounded… edgy," she sighed and breathed in happily when an oxygen mask was placed over her mouth. Renzulli looked and Danny, who was not surprised by the update.

"They had an inside man to update them on the case," Renzulli realized and Danny could have thrown a fist through the wall for the pain his kid brother was in.

"Yeah, I think it's the DEA agent," Danny said and had moved, much to his discontentment, when the paramedics needed space. Quickly they had put IV's in both of the hurting, young people and not long after they were loaded in one of the waiting ambulances, Eddie declining a gurney.

"I need to be with my partner," she reasoned, and the paramedics let her ride in the back. Danny would have gone too, but he had some loose ends to wrap up. Outside the building the sun was now almost reaching the top of the sky, and it made the building seem smaller than before. At nine, promptly, when the ambulance had left, he placed a call to his father.

Frank picked up his phone, hoping for good news. "Danny?" Frank asked, anxious to get answers.

" _I found them, they are on their way to Lower Manhattan,_ " Danny said and Frank almost let go of a sigh. The hospital was only a five minutes drive from 1PP.

"How are they?" he asked and looked out of the window from his corner office.

" _Eddie took a bullet to the shoulder and Jamie looks to be pretty roughed up, busted shoulder and all. Both of them conscious and in pain. Jamie was…_ " Danny said and was cut off for a second. Frank heard Renzulli voice through the phone.

" _Hey, Reagan, go with the other ambulance and get checked out, I'll take care of this mess,_ " the sergeant called from a distance. A second later, Danny returned to the phone.

" _Before you ask, dad, I'm fine. It's just a couple of bruises from when I ran into some of the guys,_ " he said and sighed, his breath shaking.

"Danny," Frank warned his oldest son.

" _Okay, it might be a couple of busted ribs, nothing I can't handle, but I'll go,_ " he said, clearly he wasn't about to have a discussion with his father. Frank let out a relieved sigh and closed his eyes for a second. He had never felt such a big burden being lifted from his shoulders. Of course he still had the wait to endure, but now he was more confident that the two young officers would survive.

"Thank you, son," Frank said and smiled, still a bit insecure.

" _I'll see you there, dad,_ " Danny called and hung up. Frank breathed in deeply and pressed the button on the intercom.

"Baker, cancel my schedule and have my detail ready in two minutes. Lower Manhattan Hospital. Danny found them," he said and released the button.

" _Yes, sir,_ " the blonde lieutenant answered, already knowing who he was talking about. Then he walked to the door and grabbed his coat of the standing hanger and pushed through the door. He nodded to Baker and started on calling the rest of the family about the update.

Jamie opened his eyes, once more, this time to a dimly lit white ceiling. The machines beeped peacefully next to him and he carefully tried to lift his head. He grunted when he didn't have the strength and then he heard the muffled sounds near the window.

"Hey, kid brother, how are you feeling?" Danny asked and moved into his vision. Jamie couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips when Danny squeezed his hand.

"You came," he quacked, his voice strained and hoarse.

"Damn right, I did. You gave all of us a pretty big scare, you and Eddie," he said and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Jamie's face turned serious when he heard the name of his partner.

"How is she? She was shot," Jamie remembers, Danny could almost see the color drain from the kid's face.

"She is fine, believe it or not, she was discharged a couple of hours ago and went home to rest," Danny insured his brother. Only then Jamie took a good look at his face, hard features only more expressed by the dark circles under his eyes and his sleep deprived eyes.

"How long was I gone?" Jamie asked, trying to connect the dots.

"Since we found you, Monday…" Danny looked away, counting. "Three and a half days," he said and looked at Jamie's tired but surprised expression. "I'll go get a doctor," he said and let go of his hand. Jamie watched him leave and closed his eyes for what seemed like a second.

"Jamie, you're awake," a voice said, lulling him out of his sleep again. He smiled weakly when a doctor came in, followed by Danny. "Let me start by telling you, you'll be fine. We have relocated your shoulder and even the concussion is improving, you had a lot of people worried, with that one. You'll look like a color palette the next couple of days though," the doctor said while he examined Jamie. Soon after he left and Danny pulled the chair closer.

"Get some rest, kid, I'll be here, when you wake up again," Danny said and squeezed Jamie's hand again. Jamie needed no more encouragement and closed his eyes.

 _It's up to you what happens in the next chapter :) Post an idea with your review and we'll see where it takes the Reagans :) Thanks for reading :)_


	9. Chapter 9

_Yay! Sooo, this is it! Had a lot of amazing ideas from you guys, you deserve an applause! Though I couldn't just decide on one of them, I mixed some of them together. I did have to rewrite the last paragraph of chapter eight in order to make it possible. Here's to you, amazing readers and commenters :) Have fun, and let me know how I did!_

Jamie opened his eyes, once more, this time to a dimly lit white ceiling. The machines beeped peacefully next to him and he carefully tried to lift his head. He grunted when he didn't have the strength and then he heard muffled sounds near the window.

"Hey, kid brother, how are you feeling?" Danny asked and moved into his vision. Jamie couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips when Danny squeezed his hand right hand.

"You came," he quacked, his voice strained and hoarse.

"Damn right, I did. You gave all of us a pretty big scare, you and Eddie," he said and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Jamie's face turned grave when he heard the name of his partner.

"How is she? She was shot," Jamie remembers, Danny could almost see the color drain from the kid's face.

"She is fine, believe it or not, the gun shot was just a flesh wound. Other than that, she just had some sore ribs and a couple of bumps and bruises. She was discharged a couple of hours ago and went home to rest," Danny insured his brother. Only then Jamie took a good look at his face, the hard features were only more expressed by the dark circles under his sleep deprived eyes.

"How long was I out?" Jamie asked, trying to connect the dots.

"Since we found you, Monday… that would be three and a half days," he said and looked at Jamie's tired but attentive expression. "I'll go get a doctor," he said and let go of Jamies's hand. Jamie watched him leave and closed his eyes for what seemed like a second.

"Jamie, you're awake, how wonderful," an unfamiliar voice said, lulling him out of his doze again. He smiled weakly when a doctor came in, followed by Danny. "Let me start by telling you, that you'll be fine. We have relocated your shoulder and even the concussion is improving, you had a lot of people worried, with that one. You'll look like a color palette the next couple of days though," the doctor said while he examined Jamie. "However, we did have some problems during the surgery," the doctor said when he finished. Danny was seated again, his face showing the concern he was feeling.

"What surgery?" Jamie asked, his level of concern spiking. He didn't know he had needed surgery.

"Some fragments from the explosion was buried in your back and your right side, mostly superficial, we extracted those, of course, but some of it managed to knick your liver, just a little puncture wound. It turned out to be leaking a little bit, so we stitched you together and we will keep you under observation for a week, until we are sure, that it won't deteriorate," he explained, very slow and calming. Soon after, he left, leaving Jamie to his thoughts and the company of his brother. Danny pulled the chair closer.

"I called dad to let him know you woke up, so he'll be here first thing in the morning," Danny said, resting his tired eyes on his brother.

"The mole?" Jamie asked, pushing aside his own medical condition.

"Baez and I arrested him Monday evening. We had the evidence to back it up. It turned out to be DEA Agent Gary O'Hara. He was being blackmailed by the head of the Black Spades to report to them on any kind of operation. He's making a deal to reduce his sentence," Danny said and smiled when he recalled the evening he had the pleasure to slap the cuffs on the almost weeping giant in front of the whole department.

"You know, I was worried, when we realized there was a mole, but somehow I knew, I just knew, you would come out on top," Jamie said, pride in his eyes and voice.

"Get some rest, kid, we'll be here, when you wake up again," Danny said, smiling, and squeezed Jamie's hand again. Jamie needed no more encouragement and closed his eyes.

He slowly resurfaced to the sound of a door opening and shuffling feet. The ceiling was now lit up by actual sunlight, Jamie noticed and turned his head to the sound.

"Heyy, dad," he rasped, his voice dry again. He cleared his throat and smiled at his father who sat down in the chair Danny had vacated.

"Hello, son, are you feeling better?" Frank asked with a tight smile under the moustache and clear eyes. His big frame would have surely been escorted to the door by his security detail. Jamie motioned to sit up and Frank helped him place a couple of pillows behind his back.

"As good as expected, I guess," Jamie responded, thinking of the gnawing he had felt in the morning. He had woken up in the small hours when the pain had suddenly jumped at him from his insides. He had assumed it was just the pain meds wearing of, so he had gone back to sleep, because it wasn't too bad, it just stung a little bit once in a while.

"Danny just left to go clean up, he'll be back in no time. Erin has court this morning, so when she finishes, she and Nicky will stop by with pops," Frank commented.

"Sounds good to me," Jamie answered and yawned. His energy was quickly running out, but he managed to not look too tired. "Did the doctors tell you, they wouldn't let me come home for another week?" Jamie asked and thought of the Sunday dinner, in just two days, he was going to miss.

"Yes, they did," Frank said and remembered the day he had walked through the doors to the hospital. He had been the first of the Reagan's to arrive at the emergency room. It took him only a couple of minutes to locate a growling Danny, sitting on a bed, shirtless and with a bandage wrapped around his ribs. He had cuts and bruises on his face, already treated. He had looked impatient and anxiety was written all over his face. They had known nothing about Jamie's condition, as he was rushed in to surgery, just like Eddie. Then Baez had arrived, looking tired but relieved, after getting the text from Danny, updating her on the situation. Then Erin, Nicky and Henry announced their arrival with Henry's recognizable voice demanding to see his grandsons. They had all waited for hours, when Linda and the boys arrived and they got news on the two officers. Eddie was resting, still sedated, but they were positive about her recovery. Jamie had been transferred to the ICU for monitoring and if his condition, regarding the liver, took a turn for the worse, they would have to put him in a medical induced coma. Then Danny and Baez went back to work the same night and only Erin and Frank stayed until the early morning. Then Danny came back and they had gone home to rest. Tuesday afternoon, Danny had called him because they pulled Jamie out of ICU and Eddie was awake. Nothing had changed on Jamie's condition until he had woken up the day before.

"Is Danny doing all right?" Jamie asked when a chill rushed down his spine. "He looked like a dead man walking, yesterday," Jamie noted, lifting his good hand to rub his face and scratch his neck. His left arm, the one that was dislocated, was still uncomfortably painful. Frank looked out the window for a second, hesitating to answer right away.

"He was a bit 'out there' until you woke up. I have never seen him like that, before," Frank confessed. "You did give him, all of us, a pretty good scare, though, so I wouldn't blame him for worrying," he continued.

"You didn't know if it would be Joe, all over again," Jamie mentioned, phrasing what Frank had been struggling to say. He looked down at the blanket and blinked away the few tears threatening to appear, just by the memory of his beloved brother. He couldn't even imagine the pain it would have caused him, if he knew Joe had been fighting for his life for hours, with the family not knowing whether he would make it or not. Frank looked at him, everything that needed saying, was in their eyes. The door burst open and Danny strolled inside with a cup of hospital coffee in his hands. He looked better than the night before, Jamie thought as he shuddered.

"Well, good morning, sleeping beauty," Danny teased as he pulled a second chair closer and sat down next to Frank. "What?" he asked suspiciously when they both looked at him, their faces turning into smiles.

"Nothing," Jamie responded and coughed weakly before leaning his head back down. "As pleased as I am, with both of you here, don't you have jobs to do? I don't need anyone to hover around me, when I'm sleeping off the meds," Jamie joked. He was still tired, and from the looks of it, so were his father and brother. "It's not like I'm going to wander off," he commented with a smile. Both Frank and Danny took the hint and motioned to leave.

"Stay put, kid, I'll swing by later," Danny called from the door and left.

" _He that raises a large family does, indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too,_ " Frank quoted from the door way, hands in his pockets, tipping on his toes.

"Benjamin Franklin," Jamie commented, and received a smile from his father across the room before he left and the door was closed. Jamie rested back in the pillows and coughed frailly, before he closed his eyes and shuddered. He was looking forward to the pain meds, he thought, before he drifted into a light, uneasy sleep.

A soft touch on his hand brought him back to reality.

"Earth to Reagan, come in," a familiar voice sounded not far away. Jamie opened his eyes to see Eddie, his best friend whom he had fallen in love with, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Eddie," was all he could manage before he coughed hoarsely. Eddie grimaced by the crackling sound from her partner. "You look better," he said when he could speak again, his voice no more than a whisper on sandpaper.

"Well, someone has to be the good looking one in this partnership," she said with a sparkle in her eye and a grin on her lips, articulating at the air between them, before resting her free hand on Jamie's again. Her right arm was in a sling, so she wouldn't strain the gunshot wound. His hand twisted around and, as if natural, their fingers intertwined.

"I'm glad to see you," he noted and smiled, however, it was a bit forced.

"Me too," Eddie replied and looked down on their hands, speculating.

"Hey," Jamie rasped and waited until their eyes met again. "We can survive anything," he told her, genuineness in his eyes. A silent promise. A hopeful statement. She smiled, nothing more needed to be said.

"I know," she simply whispered and sat down in the chair next to her without letting go of her partner. She pulled her feet up and leaned her shoulder on the bed, finally able to relax. Jamie fell asleep not long after, his fingers and head twitching lightly every now and then.

About an hour later, Eddie noticed his breathing changed to more than shallow. "Jamie?" she tried and nudged his hand gently. When he didn't respond, she stood up an emphasized her voice and touch to a light pat on his chin. Nothing happened so she ran to the door and called for help.

Danny and Baez were at their desks working, mouths filled with the lunch they had bought from the Turkish kitchen a block down from the 54th, when his cell phone rang. He swallowed hard and took a sip from his drink before he answered.

"Reagan," he said while he looked through the list on his computer.

" _Danny…_ " a female voice said. A lump formed in his throat. It sounded almost familiar if it wasn't for the rough patches of concern.

"Eddie? Are you all right? What happened?" Danny asked, suddenly uneasy about the call.

" _I'm at the hospital… visiting Jamie… I don't know what happened, they won't tell me anything… you should be here… all of you… as in right now,_ " Eddie said, clearly trying to keep her act together. Danny was already on his way to the stairs with Baez right behind him.

"Thanks, Eddie, I'll be there in five minutes. I have to call dad and Erin," he said. Baez saw the worry in his face when they raced for the car.

"Give me the keys, Danny," she commandeered and he didn't contradict her. Shortly after, he was in the passenger seat, fumbling with his phone. The sound of Eddie's frightened voice had been enough for him to know to hurry.

"Dad," he said, when he heard the phone being answered.

" _Danny, what is it?_ " Frank asked, obviously noting the squashy voice of his oldest.

"It's Jamie... Eddie called me, she was scared, she said something happened," he reported.

" _I'm on my way. Does anybody else know?_ " Frank asked in his gruff voice, Danny could already hear his footsteps.

"No, I was going to call Erin, just now," Danny answered and they disconnected.

Henry and Nicky looked at the phone next to her, when it buzzed and then looked in the direction of the toilettes, where it owner, Erin, had gone just ten seconds earlier. The small but lovely sidewalk café they were having lunch at was buzzing with activity. When Nicky recognized the caller ID she didn't hesitate to answer the call.

"Hi Uncle Danny, it's Nicky," she said, pushing a piece of bread around the plate with the fork. Henry was at looking at his great-granddaughter talking and kept an eye out for Erin.

" _Uhm, Nicky, where is Erin at?_ " Danny asked his niece, now trying to keep up the façade of everything being fine. He wanted Erin to know first.

"Mmmh, she's... right here, just a second," Nicky answered when Henry gestured towards Erin, walking to their table. "Mom, it's Uncle Danny," she said and handed her mother the phone with a smile. Erin took it and sat down.

"Hi Danny, what do you need?" she asked and shortly after her face fell. "No, we'll be there in twenty minutes," she said and hung up. Her face was slightly greyer, than before. "It's Jamie," she explained to the two faces when they looked at her, horrified.

"Eddie?" Danny called when he entered the waiting room. Baez had dropped him off at the entrance so she could park the car. The blonde was in a chair, her good arm around her knees and she stood up abruptly when her name was called. Danny could see, she was on the verge of crying, but she was too strong to let other people see it, he thought hastily. "What happened?" he asked when he got nearer, his own voice almost unrecognizable. She looked at him, rather terrified and didn't know where to start. Danny sensed it and got all soft, when he pulled her into a comforting and calming hug. Eddie hesitated for a moment but leaned her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arm around the strong Reagan brother. He could feel her tremble in his arms. She let out a shaking sigh and pulled away again, looking down at the floor for a second.

"They took him to surgery. His liver was leaking," was all she could say when she looked at her best friend's big brother. "They haven't been out to update yet," she said and sat down. Right now she didn't trust her own legs and her voice was all hollow. This was almost more than she could handle on top of the two days held captive. The door swung open and Frank stepped in with his security detail standing by the door. Eddie jumped up and stood to attention all at once.

"At ease, Officer Janko," Frank muttered and Eddie tried to relax. The presence of her boss and her partner's father did nothing to help her do it.

"Yes, Sir," she said but didn't sit down again.

"Please, Eddie, don't call me 'Sir', we are not on duty right now," Frank said and turned to the other door when it opened.

"Are you here for Jamison Reagan?" a nurse asked the trio and they turned, acknowledging.

"How is he?" Frank asked with concern in his voice and worry in his face.

"Jamison's liver was ruptured, but we managed to stop the bleeding for the moment. Due to the stress and trauma he has been through, it will take some time before his immune system will kick start, which is also why his blood can't coagulate for the time being. We will keep him sedated for the moment and give him another treatment with antibiotics. He is in critical but stable condition for the moment. We will let you know if anything changes," the nurse said and waited for the usual questions.

"When can we see him?" Danny and Frank asked simultaneously, briefly looking at each other.

"We will let you know when he wakes up, and if the doctor thinks, that Jamison is strong enough, he will allow a couple of visitations," the nurse answered and left the three, possibly even more worried than before. Erin and Nicky stormed through the doors, with Henry right behind them, walking hurriedly. Eddie pulled away for a second, when she felt like she was intruding the family. Shortly after Erin tapped her on the shoulder and she turned.

"Thank you for being here, and calling Danny," she started in a soft tone when she saw Eddie's red rimmed eyes.

"That's the least I could do," Eddie responded and shrugged.

"I'm sure Jamie would appreciate you being here, you know," Erin tried again, still out of earshot to the rest of the Reagan's. "How are you holding up, after everything that has happened, Eddie?" They looked at each other for a second or two.

"I feel terrible for being out here, unable to have my partner's back. I feel like everything that happened was my fault and I couldn't protect my best friend. I feel helpless because I can do about this much to help him," Eddie held up two fingers with an inch between them, her voice getting louder by each sentence. "I am worried sick, because the man I love is now fighting for his life, in there," she said and articulated to the door. At once she felt all the eyes coming to rest on her. Erin smiled softly and Eddie sighed, rushing a shaking hand through her hair. "I'm sorry, I need some air," she mumbled under her breath and hastily retrieved out the door.

 _Exiting or what? Well, I cant wait to post the next chapter! I'm hoping to get some time to write in the weekend. What did you think of the concept of you coming with ideas? Remember to let me know how I did :) Good night!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Hello, again :) Sorry to say this, but we are almost finished :) I promise more will come - I published an appetizer a couple of days ago and I already have one more in my mind. To this fic, there might be a chapter or two left, if you put in some response and some good ideas for an ending? Read on and have fun :)_

Outside Eddie paced around for a few minutes, trying to calm herself with her breathing. Finally she sat down on a bench in the shade of the building and sighed with her hands in her hair.

"That just didn't happen," she moaned to herself, almost ashamed. The last sentence she had said, well, spoken out loudly, would be the term, had surprised her as much as it had surprised the Reagan family – if not even more.

"It kind of did," Danny's voice sounded behind her and she turned around, startled. He sat down next to her and was silent for a few seconds. "You, being partnered with Jamie might have been the best thing that has happened to him these last few years," Danny said, looking straight ahead. "We have always tried to be there for him, you know, me, Erin and dad, but that isn't the same thing as a partner," Danny continued. Eddie too, looked at a spot straight ahead.

"He is a good partner," Eddie finally said and she felt some of the tension in her shoulders leave. Danny just nodded firmly.

"Everything with mom and Joe, Sydney and Vinnie has left him… vulnerable, exposed," Danny decided and turned his head to look at the blonde next to him. He sighed. "Listen, what I'm trying to say is, that Jamie wouldn't be the same without you," he finally managed to express himself.

"I guess… I apologize for my outburst earlier. I don't know what I was thinking," Eddie started.

"Stop that," Danny said, denying her to say more. "You love him, that's all you have to know, trust me. And don't apologize, we saw it coming. Well, maybe you took us by surprise but we all knew it would happen eventually," Danny said with a smile when he saw the confusion in her eyes.

"What do you mean? You knew… all of you? How?" Eddie asked, astonished.

"Ever since you were partnered he started complaining about how bossy you could be, that you would make plans for him without consulting him first, your eating habits, stuff like that. And you think, being in a car with the same person all day, would make you want some time alone, uh uh, not you two. Erin noticed too, but was confirmed when she and Jamie had a talk. Something about that he cared for you, but wouldn't want another partner. Even Renzulli knows something, but he doesn't want to know. The way he is protective of you, remember that UC op we needed you for? And when you went all momma-bear after your car was hit with a Molotov? Even…" Danny continued until Eddie cut him off with her good hand raised in surrender.

"I get it, I get it," she said with a small smile on her lips. She hadn't realized they had so many tell tale signs. She could only guess the number of people who knew something about them. She sighed and put her hand down again. "I guess it's been a long time coming, huh?" Eddie asked with a strained laugh. "I didn't mean for everybody to know, but these last weeks have been stressful and it just slipped out in a heated moment. Even Jamie doesn't know what I feel for him," Eddie said. Danny laughed half heartedly.

"Even Pops had been hoping to add another chair to the Sunday Dinner," Danny said with the small laughter. "And Nicky," Danny found it odd, that he was able to even find a laughter at this time. Eddie looked at him for a moment until she smiled herself. "Come on inside, when you are ready," Danny noted when he stood up and straightened his tie. He turned back to walk inside when Eddie's words stopped him in his tracks.

"He will get through this, right? I really need him to get better," she said. He didn't turn. He didn't know what to say.

"He's as stubborn as they come," Danny said when he turned to Eddie. "He's got someone to live for," he continued with a nod and a calming smile before he turned and walked inside.

A few hours had passed and they were all still waiting for news. Linda had arrived with Jack and Sean, both of which were worried and restless. They both wanted to see their uncle. Eddie came to know, that patience wasn't mandatory for a Reagan. Danny was probably as restless as his boys. Linda and Erin were more calm, but still worried.

"Francis, would you stop pacing a hole in the floor, please?" Henry asked as he observed his son pacing, with the hands in his pockets. Frank only sighed in response and sat down on a vacant chair in the corner of the private room, they had been assigned.

"What about Sunday dinner tomorrow?" Nicky asked, and received several tired eyes from the family. "What? We can't not have dinner, right?" she asked Erin, who sat the closest. They all recalled the Thanksgiving, where Henry had been hospitalized.

"We will figure it out later, sweetheart. Right now, we have other things to think of," Erin responded her daughter and pulled her in for a hug and everyone went silent for minutes.

"Reagan family?" a doctor asked from the open door. She was younger than the nurse but looked older than she probably was. Everybody stood at once. Linda had a hand on each of her boy's shoulders and Erin had an arm around Nicky. Eddie stood with her one arm in a sling and the other wrapped around her waist.

"What's the word?" Danny asked, as he was the closest. Frank moved to the door, hands clamped together on his back, lips tightened under the moustache.

"When Jamie was admitted we were a little hesitant to cauterize the wound in his liver, because of the side effects and damage it could do to his liver. So we hoped it wouldn't be necessary. But this morning the wound reopened itself, probably because of a cough or something similar, so we had to cauterize it. There is a slight chance that his liver might scar from it but we kept it to a minimal. He is improving and if all goes well, we can start taking him off the meds in half an hour and you will be able to see him then, two at a time," the doctor reported with her hands firmly clasped in front of her.

"That's a relief," Henry sighed and it was like a lot of tension left the room.

"I sense a 'but' coming?" Frank asked, tipping on his toes. All the eyes in the room darted to him and then shot back to the doctor. She looked down for less than a second.

"If the liver scars too much, Jamie might need to reconsider his choice of career. That and a few weeks of rehabilitation," the doctor finished.

"Thank you," Linda mumbled and the doctor turned and left. Erin was the first to sit down again, followed by Danny and Eddie.

"This can't be happening," Danny said.

"I know, it feels like the nightmare just got a hell of a lot worse," Erin chimed and brushed her fingers through her hair. Danny rubbed his face with his hands as the rest of the Reagan's sat down again.

"Being a cop… it means the world to him," Nicky said silently.

"He'll be back on the streets," Eddie said from her chair, strangely calm, and they all turned to her.

"How can you be so sure of that?" Henry asked, wonder in his gruff voice. He didn't mean to sound that annoyed with her. Eddie looked at the oldest of the Reagan and smiled through a thin layer of tears.

"Easy. Reason number one… he's my partner," she said and looked down on her hands for a second.

"And reason number two?" Danny encouraged her. She looked up at him, hope in her eyes.

"That's simple… he's a Reagan and he won't give up without a fight," she said. Her voice and eyes were filled with strong hope. It didn't matter if it was true or not, but she needed the hope. She needed the reassurance.

Not long after, Eddie had somehow been persuaded by Erin to get some food in the cantina. They had walked down the hallway in silence and when they stepped into the elevator Eddie could feel that Erin wanted to say something.

"Whatever it is, just say it. I can't handle anymore waiting, not to mention I'm exhausted by the emotional rollercoaster by now," Eddie said, sounding just as tired as she looked. She combed through her hair, with her left hand. Her right arm was still in a sling and it only took her two days, to remember not to use it her dominant hand. Erin sighed next to her.

"I can't imagine what you have gone through… both of you. It must have been hell," Erin started.

"Oh, it was worse than hell, believe me," Eddie said, founding the last shred of irony left in her. The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. They walked out and found their way to the cantina.

"I don't doubt it for a second. We are all happy to see you in one piece, Eddie. Jamie too, I know. Did you have a chance to talk with him, before… all this?" Erin asked and waved her arm around her, indicating Jamie's turn for the worse. Eddie shook her head, tiredly.

"Maybe five minutes before he fell asleep… I can't believe it was only six hours ago," Eddie said, cursing at the time. It felt like days, since he was taken into surgery again.

"Yeah, it feels longer. Coffee?" Erin asked and stopped by the coffee table.

Jamie was so tired he didn't even want to open his eyes. He grunted and sighed almost soundless. Then he felt a warm hand on his arm, squeezing it lightly. He heard a faint mumbling but couldn't make out the words or who they belonged to. He grunted again and sighed, this time louder.

" _Jamie,_ " a deep voice fell through the surface and Jamie forced himself to react, to open his eyes.

"Dad," he whispered, completely dried out. He needed no more than the fuzzy outline of the moustache to recognize his own father. Jamie smiled faintly, so did Frank.

"Are you feeling any better, son?" Frank asked when Jamie slowly closed and reopened his eyes. Just the act of blinking was tiresome.

"Compared to what?" Jamie joked and tried to smile. He had regained some of his color and the spirit in his eyes. His face turned serious again. "My… Eddie was here?" he asked and Frank nodded.

"She hasn't left, either," he replied and leaned back in the chair. "I'll tell her to come in. Goodnight, son," Frank said when he stood up and exited the room. Jamie smiled his thanks and closed his eyes for a few seconds, until he heard the door open again. He smiled by the sight of her and turned his hand around, inviting.

"Jamie?" Eddie asked quietly. She sat down in the vacated chair and just like earlier in the day their hands ended up interlaced.

"I've realized something," he said, wetting his lips insecurely and looking her in the eyes. He brushed his thumb over her fingers. "The other day, after the explosion," he continued. Her eyes shifted, silently saying 'yes, go on'. "I couldn't have cared less about the whole thing, you know why?" he asked her, locking her eyes with his. She shook her head, she didn't know what he was coming at. After all, this could be the rest of the medicine talking.

"No, why?" she asked, almost silent. Why was her heart pumping faster, than just a few minutes ago, she wondered.

"All that mattered to me," he paused involuntarily, searching for a way to formulate the sentence. "All that mattered, was being with you till the end," he confessed and searched her eyes. "I care about you, more than anything else," he said and closed his eyes for a second when the pain was returning. Screw it, he thought and opened his eyes again when the stinging wave passed. He sighed, partially frustrated, partially exhausted. "Eddie, I love you," he finally admitted and sighed. It felt like the weight of the whole world had been lifted from his shoulders. Eddie, however, looked speechless. That's a first, Jamie thought distantly and smiled when her grip tightened around his hand.

"I love you, too, Reagan," she responded quietly with a little smile. "I can't remember exactly when it happened, but you have always been there for me," she said. "So now, I'm returning the favor, because you're not getting rid of me that easily," she laughed. Jamie smiled too and managed to find enough strength to lift her hand to his mouth and gently kiss her knuckles. "You do realize, that you're stuck with me, Reagan?" She asked, still with the laughter in her voice and Jamie nodded.

"Nothing I can do about that, huh?" he mumbled and pulled her closer. "I wouldn't trade it for the world," he whispered in her ear and faintly brushed his lips over hers. It was just about to grow in intensity when Eddie saw the wince of pain in his face.

"I'll go find a doctor for you, okay?" she said and cupped his cheek when she kissed him one last time. Jamie nodded and closed his eyes, concentrating on reducing the pain.

"Can you tell them to relax and go home? They need a break," Jamie asked her, half asleep, when she stood up.

Eddie walked back out to the waiting room and when she opened the door Danny and Erin quickly stood up.

"How is he?" Erin asked when Eddie closed the door behind her.

"He is… alive. And tired. The doctor just gave him another dose of morphine to sleep on," she said and stood for a second, rubbing her temples. "He told me, to tell you, to go home and relax," Eddie sighed and shrugged. Only Jamie would do that, she thought and looked at Danny, when his phone rang. He too sighed and answered the call with his usual barking.

"Reagan," he sounded even more grumpy than normal. No response so Danny glanced at the caller ID. Blocked. "Hello?" he asked again. "Who is this?" he asked and the line was cut. He sighed, again in frustration and slipped the phone in his pocket.

"What was that about, Danny?" Henry asked but Danny just whisked it away.

"You should go home and get some rest," Eddie tried. "You sure look like you need some," she said, almost apologetic right after, when she got the 'Reagan-look'. "I'll call you, if anything changes," she promised and was finally left alone after a little, heated discussion.

 _So, how did I do with all the emotions? I have to admit: I know nothing about the science of medicine, so just think about it as fiction, too :) Let me know how I did and, please, leave a review :) It means a lot if you comment, especially to write faster :) Good night!_


	11. Chapter 11

_Hello! Guess who's back with an update! :) Surprise! It's me... and I apologize for the long wait, but I've been travelling to the other side of the world (four planes - 24 hours -_ _ **not**_ _counting in the waiting at the airports). Now, here's a challenge for you: while you read this post, I want you guys to come up with a persona/personality for Danny's not-so-friendly acquaintance later on (how he looks, moves, speaks, thinks and so on). I did try to leave the character a bit open. And you may have to give me a break for the wording - it is in the middle of the night, I've been working extra hours at the shop and my horses demand a fairly good amount of time, too. I would like to know, however, what I can do better for the next chapter, so let me know - it will make my day if you will leave a review._

"I don't know how you managed to talk me into this," Eddie said when she walked through the front door to the Reagan's house. Her arm was still aching, but she could manage almost a whole day without the sling now. She had spent most of her the past week in the hospital, close to Jamie, where Henry and Linda had looped her into joining the family for dinner that Sunday and little could she do to change their decision. Jamie was ready to be signed out and Danny had offered to pick him up and bring him home.

"You'll be fine," Erin replied and put her bag on the floor. These past weeks had been somewhat awful for all of the family and she was quite exhausted. At least Jamie's condition hadn't deteriorated and he grew stronger by the day. "It's just dinner," she continued.

"I know… the famous Reagan Sunday family dinner," Eddie mumbled under her breath and left her jacket on the coat hanger like Erin did. Erin didn't seem to notice her comment and walked into the living room ahead of Eddie. Linda was the first to stand up from her seat on the couch and walk to Eddie. In one movement she had enveloped the younger woman who was still a little bit astonished. In one week, Eddie became good friends with Linda, who had known Jamie since his early teens and Linda could see how he had changed the last couple of years with the partnership of Officer Janko. They parted with a smile and Eddie was surprised how normal it felt, being around the Reagan's. Frank and Henry were in the kitchen, finishing up the roast and mash. It took Eddie a couple of times to not greet Frank with a salute but it still felt wrong not to do it. They all started talking and were quickly carried away. Jack and Sean described their week in school, Nicky complained about an essay and Linda worried too much about the new teacher. Not long after the front door opened and Danny scooted inside with a duffle bag in his hand. Everybody's eyes fell on Jamie, who appeared behind Danny and walked slowly inside.

"Look who finally showed up!" Danny called teasingly, so they all could hear it, and closed the door behind his brother.

"Shut it, Danny," Jamie replied, but the tiny smile didn't go unnoticed.

"Danny," Erin said warningly as they all stood. Danny winced and sucked in a breath between his teeth.

"Sorry, Sis," he glanced at Jamie and helped him out of his worn jacket.

"I'm glad, you're okay, Uncle Jamie," Nicky said from where she was leaning on the door frame.

"I have to say, it's good to see you upright, son," Frank said from behind all of them and the room full of Reagan's parted in the middle so he could pass.

"Hey, dad," Jamie said quietly. After his second surgery they had talked a lot about everything and nothing and Jamie felt strangely closer to Frank than he had for years.

"Let's eat before the food ends up cold. Dinner is served," he said solemnly and the family shuffled to the dinner table one room over.

"Come on, Uncle Jamie," Jack called from his seat when he noticed his uncle hadn't moved. Neither had Eddie, who had been standing a little away from the mass of Reagan's.

"Jack," Nicky reprimanded him, when she caught the atmosphere between the two young officers.

"What?" he asked, not knowing what he had just interrupted. Nicky rolled her eyes and all of them laughed, except for Jack. Only a few seconds had passed when Eddie and Jamie walked the few meters to each other and embraced. Jamie, shabby and drained, buried his nose in Eddie's hair and enjoyed the feeling of her arm around his waist.

"We'll get through this," Jamie whispered in her ear. They both knew what 'this' was and it needed no further explanation between them. Eddie pulled away, smiling bravely.

"We can survive anything," she countered, repeating what he had told her hours before they were found, thirteen days ago. Jamie smiled and turned to the dining room and sat down on the empty chairs. The loud conversation silenced and Frank looked at the members of the family in turn.

"Who wants to say grace?" he asked the people her cared the most for.

Linda leaned over and kissed her husband goodnight before she stood from the couch and moved to the stairs.

"Goodnight, babe," Danny hummed and looked in her direction before turning his eyes back to the television. Dinner had been distressing. At least, no heated discussion, this time. Everybody had been on their best behavior, trying hard to make Jamie comfortable. Eddie had been a huge contributor to that factor. For the first time in history, the shop talk had been minimal, despite the number of cops actually being present. Jamie and Eddie had left early, due to Jamie's fatigue and now, hours later, Danny was home with a beer on the table, next to his feet. He was just catching the ending of a movie with the volume on low and to be honest, he felt weakened from the last couple of weeks. He could only sigh and wish he was dreaming when his phone buzzed on the table.

"Reagan," he answered, cautious, when he noticed the blocked caller ID. Could it be possible to recognize breathing, he wondered, before hearing a voice on the line.

" _5302, first Avenue, Brooklyn. One hour. Alone. Don't be late,_ " the voice croaked. Danny sat up straight but didn't say anything. He glanced at the stairs, thinking of Linda for a brief moment. Before he could answer the line went dead and he thought he recognized the voice. There more he thought about it, the more faded it turned, so he quickly stood and grabbed the keys to the dark green Jeep before heading out the door.

"Thank you for doing this," Jamie murmured and let his head fall back on the pillow when he could finally relax.

"I told you, you're stuck with me, partner," Eddie replied with a wink and bent down at the waist to place a kiss on his mouth. It felt completely normal to do that now, a week into their slowly progressing relationship.

"Staying the night?" he asked, half asleep already and pulling her closer, so she would eventually fall down on top of him.

"You need to rest, Jamie, doctor's orders… go to sleep, Boy Scout," Eddie protested with a hand on his chest. He sighed, let her go and she pulled the cover over him, before she left the bedroom. This whole development had changed everything. For starters, she felt guilty for Jamie's injuries. She wanted him to be safe and apparently she could easily become a target through her father. She let herself sprawl out on the couch for a moment when her mind was too busy to concentrate on anything else. If she could be a target, Jamie would be too. And she didn't know if she could handle it. Two weeks ago, she realized that. And this last week had been a dance on roses with the thorns threatening to sting. She sighed again and squinted her eyes to make the involuntary images go away. When she finally stood up an hour had passed and she realized she had drowsed on the couch. She went to the kitchen, where she found a glass of water and the painkillers marked 'vicodin' Jamie had been subscribed. Silently she walked into the bedroom and set the glass and the pill bottle on the nightstand, easy to find if he woke up in pain.

"Sweet dreams, Reagan," she whispered to the slowly breathing pile under the blanket and left the apartment.

5302 on First Avenue looked like a storing facility for bigger shipments. It took Danny half an hour to get there, circle the block and park the car a bit away. He didn't know how the person got a hold of his phone number and he was pissed, that someone had the nerve to call him like this and demand his presence. He could have chosen to ignore it and go to bed, but he knew it would haunt him for hours. So he had decided to go for a drive in the middle of the night. He had thought of how to approach this disturbance – to lurk from the corners until someone showed up and tail them when they left or to actually meet the guy and scare the shit out of him. He had gone with option C – a GPS tracker in his pocket to place on the guy if necessary, a sniper on a rooftop close by, a couple of TARU guys, who owed him a favor, and Baez lurking from the shadows. And now he was right on time, when he walked through the open-all-hours-gate in the dim light of the street lamps. His cap was shading his face. He had prepared for the worst. He stopped in the middle of the open lot… and waited. Nothing happened for five minutes. Until his phone rang.

"Where are you, numb nuts, come out from your hiding hole and let's talk," he said when he accepted the call. There it was again, the breathing.

"I'm disappointed in you, Detective Reagan…" Danny was puzzled. "Making that call to Detective Baez, when you walked from your house to the car… it hurt my feelings," the voice said. Danny froze, his heart almost stopped beating. It couldn't be… the unfamiliar car he had spotted down the road from his house. Had this psycho been watching his house? "How was the old man's roast?" the voice asked, like jumping to the next item on the to-do-list. "I bet your dad think it's nice to see the whole family assembled once again. Your brother looked good, considering. Almost like your fatigued sister," he said casually.

"What do you want?" Danny asked in a low, growling voice. He certainly didn't have the patience to this idiot's game. The mere thought of someone staking out the Reagan family was that of horror.

"Oh, no… I don't want anything from you… yet," the voice snickered. The man let out a tiny laugh. "For now, I just need you to know, how close I can get to your family," the voice laughed again.

"If you do anything to anyone, you won't get the pleasure of seeing the inside of a cell. You would go straight six feet under, asshole, without anyone knowing about it," Danny snarled at the phone.

"Good luck with that, Detective. I will be in touch, when the time is right," the voice said and hung up. Danny cursed the man to a far away hole in the ground and glanced around before he headed to the gate. Right now he needed to get home. And tell his family. Baez approached him from the opposite street corner with a couple of men on her trail.

"What happened? We didn't see nobody," she started.

"Asshole didn't show. He's been watching my family all day… he even knew what we had for dinner, that son of a bitch," Danny barked and kept walking to his car. "I'll see you later… thanks for the back-up, guys," he called over his shoulder.

Eddie's phone buzzed on the table where she left it, when she got home. The screen read 'Danny' and she grabbed it quickly, surprised and anxious about a call after midnight.

"Danny? What's going on?" she blurted out quickly. She could hear the sound of an engine doing its best to satisfy the foot on the pedal.

" _Are you and Jamie all right?_ " Danny demanded. Tires screeched and a car horn muffled Danny's aggressive shout out to the driver. Eddie was standing now and unconsciously glanced out the windows, down on the street.

"I'm fine… Jamie should be sleeping at his place… I don't understand, what's going on?" Eddie asked frantically. This wasn't funny the least. She was already running for the car keys again, now rushed by the adrenaline. She slammed the door behind her, not bothering to turn off the lights.

" _Eddie, could you…_ " Danny started before Eddie interrupted him.

"On my way… call me later," she said when she hastily ran down the stairs. She heard a muffled 'thanks' and slipped the phone in her pocket when she reached her car.

Frank was still awake when his phone started singing. A call at this hour could only mean one of two things. And he didn't know anybody, who was anywhere close to giving birth at the time. He didn't glance at the screen, but answered it quickly.

"What is it, Garrett?" he asked, already making his way to the kitchen. He could sense, he needed a pot of coffee for this.

" _Dad? Have you seen anything suspicious outside the house today?_ " Danny's voice sounded hectic in the phone, rushed, somehow. Frank was puzzled enough to pause halfway through the entrance. At least the sentence hadn't begun with Garrett's voice saying 'something has happened'. He thought about the question and the answer belonging to it.

"Maybe a car… it didn't look familiar," Frank answered, suspiciously. "What's this about, Danny?" he continued. Danny relayed the entire phone call and Frank decided to call him back later. He had some calls to make and strings to pull.

 _Anything good in there? let me know, guys! Thanks for reading - you are_ _ **awesome**_ _!_

 _K._


	12. Chapter 12

_Hi guys, thanks for the reviews! I got the last chapter in this fic for you - it is a short one though, but I have to leave some on it out. This is sort of like an ending to everything. There will come a followup story dedicated to Danny and the mystery caller - in that story we will all just forget all about what happened in this story, got it? It sounded better in my head. The point is, nothing has happened to Jamko and they are still on the streets. For this story, however, I summed it up pretty quick. Right now, I will focus on "Out of the Blue" (Jamie as a suspect) and later, you guys, should keep an eye out for "Calling Out" (the continuation with the mystery caller._

 _This chapter might not be my best work and I promise I will do better next time. Promts/ideas for the mystery caller is still appreciated. Anything I can do better, let me know._

 _/K._

When Eddie arrived back at Jamie's place she let herself in with the spare key, Jamie gave her, when she was dealing with Singer. Nothing had changed, since she left and when she peeked through the door to the bedroom her pulse could finally slow down. She let herself drop down on the couch to message Danny. ' _All quiet at Jamie's. What happened?_ ' She typed in silence and hit send. If she was one to guess, by the amount of mad driving, he was probably still running around like a headless chicken, calling people and arranging stuff. He had sounded really frightened when they spoke. She had never heard that 'zing' in his voice before. Once again she stretched out on the couch and closed her eyes, waiting for the phone to buzz.

"Frank, do you realize, what Danny just told you?" Garrett sighed ten minutes after his arrival to his boss's home. Frank had just told him, for the third time in those ten minutes, what Danny had said on the phone. Garrett looked to be in the near state of almost panicking, this would be a mess on his table in the morning – contributing to every pile and stack of folders covering every surface in his office. He sighed once more, just by the thought of it. The two men were sitting in the kitchen with plenty of coffee in front of them.

"Yes," Frank replied, speculatively. "That's why I called in favor with the CSU, they are looking for footprints, fingerprints, cigarette butts, candy wrapper, hell… even bogeys, around the house and the street, as we speak. Technicians are working the surrounding cameras, as well," Frank continued.

"And you got patrol cars outside their places?" Garrett asked, referring to Danny, Erin and Jamie.

"Danny and Baez are working the case with Gormley and Baker. Erin has called in help from McBride and Abetemarco to go through the list of people that ended up in prison because of a Reagan," Frank said, this time he sighed too – that list was too damn long, both of them thought. If one man would target a family of cops it sure would be caused by the cops – Henry, Frank, Danny, Joe, Jamie – and Erin. They fell silent, until Henry walked into the kitchen. He couldn't help himself but giggle at the two, even though he understood the severity of the situation.

"Is my son treating you all right, Garrett?" Henry asked and the man looked a little bit lost.

"The press will be having a field day tomorrow, when they hear about this. Nothing, but a nightmare for me," he sighed and stood. There was nothing more for him to do here, now he would go to the office and get things sorted. It already looked like an all-nighter judging from the amount of missed calls on his phone. He had put it on silent when he arrived so they wouldn't be disturbed. "My advice?" Garrett asked before he walked to the door. Without letting the two older men answer he continued. "Get some sleep," he said and showed himself out the back door.

"I just spoke to Erin…" Henry started and sat down in the now vacant chair. "Nicky has been ordered to never be alone and campus security has been informed and they are keeping a discreet eye on her. Linda will keep the boys home all week if she has to. She is quite worried by the fact that someone has been watching them," Henry said while he poured himself a cup of the strong brew. Maybe a scotch would do the trick, he thought.

Weeks had gone by when Eddie let herself into Jamie's apartment. She would be back on duty as of next week, if the physical therapist gave her the good to go. Jamie on the other hand would probably be doing nothing for another two month, but the doctors were optimistic about the scaring.

"Hey, Reagan, look at this," Eddie called out when she walked into the open space. The TV was on, showing an old black and white western movie. Jamie peaked his head out of the door to the bedroom where he was rummaging. Eddie held up a pair of cuffs in her fingers with a smile.

"What's that?" Jamie asked with a smile and walked out of the bedroom.

"A present from Renzulli," she threw them to him and he caught them midair. He had almost forgotten how Duncan Miller got away with his cuffs, that night, six weeks ago. "He would be happy if you wouldn't lose these, too," Eddie giggled. She had passed the precinct on her way back from PT to update Renzulli on her shoulder. She could still feel it stinging once in a while, but it grew stronger every day. Jamie was smiling when he dropped down on the couch with the cuffs in his hands.

"I bet," he said when Eddie fell down beside him and changed the program.

"Do you think he knows?" Eddie asked him in awe when their fingers entwined. Jamie smiled. Part of him was thinking ' _Sarge knows everything'_ but another part of him knew that Renzulli didn't want to know. If that was the case Jamie and Eddie would be separated and both of them were good enough to be training officers for the fresh paint out of the academy. Nothing had changed about the threat to the family. Not even a phone call from the guy. CSU had found nothing of significance, except footage of a man passing the house a couple of times, walking his dog around the blog. No one had been able to recognize the man, but the leads were few, if they existed at all. Danny was putting all of his spare time into looking for the guy, so much, that Linda had complained about it at Sunday dinner, which resulted in Danny being angry and left for work. When he came home that night he had realized how stupid he had acted and apologized to Linda.

 _Review? Thanks. What do you think of the concept, that allows you to give me ideas?_

 _Until next time. You have been great!_


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